The terrifying moment a plane’s engine shoots out fire shortly after taking off from a holiday hotspot’s airport has been captured on camera. A holidaymaker was left stunned as the jet’s engine shot out flames seconds after leaving the runway in Corfu.

German tourist Niklas Leonhardt, 20, from Leipzig, filmed the startling scenes as the passenger plane roared overhead. At the time of the incident, he was renting a car from a spot near the end of the runway and could see the plane as it took off.

As he saw flames coming from the engine on August 28, Mr Leonhardt started to film the plane, which was bound for Brno in the Czech Republic. He said the jet had only just got airborne when he started to hear loud bangs.

Footage shows bursts of fire flashing from the right-hand engine as the aircraft climbs, startling onlookers watching from the ground.

Mr Leonhardt said: “People were pretty confused and the police started to clear the area behind the runway. We don’t know what could’ve happened.”

The pilot was forced to make an emergency landing at Aktion Airport in Preveza around 45 minutes away.

Smartwings operated the flight. The Czech company has been approached for comment.

News of the Corfu fire comes after two small planes collided mid-air over an airport in Colorado. Four people were feared to have died.

A Cessna 172 and an Extra EA 300Sunday hit each other as crews were attempting to land at Fort Morgan airport on Sunday (August 31).

Three days earlier an F16 hit the ground in a ball of fire in front of horrified spectators at Poland’s Radom Air Show.

Poland’s Minister of Special Services, Tomasz Siemoniak, told TVN24 that the pilot didn’t survive the crash on Thursday (August 28).