A day after an AirAisa flight from Australia to Indonesia was forced to turn back to Perth after losing cabin pressure, passengers recounted their terror as oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling.

Flight QZ535 was 25 minutes into the flight from Perth on Sunday morning when it reportedly plummeted 20,000 feet “due to a technical issue”, ABC Australia reported. As the plane hurtled down, the flight crew screamed, passengers told CNN.

“The panic was escalated because of the behaviour of staff who were screaming, looked tearful and shocked,” ABC quoted a passenger as saying. “Now, I get it, but we looked to them for reassurance and we didn’t get any, we were more worried because of how panicked they were.”

The airline later issued an apology to the passengers. “The safety of our guests is our utmost priority,” it said in a statement. It, however, refused to comment on the allegations levelled against its crew.

In July, one of AirAsia’s flights made an emergency landing in Brisbane after it was struck by a bird. Another one flying to Kuala Lumpur made an emergency landing in Perth after an engine malfunctioned 90 minutes into the flight.