AirAsia jet lands safely in Perth after losing cabin pressure mid flight

An AirAsia flight from Western Australian city of Perth to Bali was forced to make an emergency landing on Sunday evening after the it lost cabin pressure just 25 minutes into the flight, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

All 151 people on board safely returned to Perth Airport with no injuries.

Several terrified passengers aboard Flight QZ535 told local media that they "thought they were going to die" when the plane plummeted from 32,000 feet to 10,000 feet.

"The masks fell down and everybody started panicking," Leah from Perth said. "We were all pretty much saying goodbye to each other. It was really upsetting."

Believed to be a "technical issue," AirAsia said in a statement obtained by Xinhua that "the safety of our guests is our utmost priority."

"AirAsia Indonesia apologises for any inconvenience caused."

Just over one week prior, another AirAsia jet was also forced to make an emergency landing in Perth following an engine problem 90 minutes into a flight to Kuala Lumpur and in July, a bird strike caused an AirAsia flight to return to Brisbane Airport.

-- BERNAMA