Passengers taking off from Luton Airport on Friday morning could have been forgiven for being more than a little concerned by events unfolding near the runway.

But fortunately, the disaster taking place was only a mock-up, staged for the benefit of trainee paramedics, who were putting their new skills to the ultimate test by tackling a plane crash.

The 18 students arrived at the scene to find the 'aeroplane' had crashed into the airport's perimeter fence. Dense smoke was billowing from the wreckage of the plane, and survivors were screaming and shouting for help.

The students, who are eight weeks into their 13-week foundation paramedic course, had to put their major incident training into action immediately, taking command of the scene, attending to injured passengers and working with the other emergency services.

Also taking part in the exercise were firefighters who are based at the airport, who worked to put out the flames and help free trapped passengers.

Trainee Michelle Hoyland said: "There was so much smoke that you could hardly breathe, and people were screaming - it was absolute mayhem.

"The experience has been very valuable, I didn't realise how small an amount of space you have in a situation like this."