'My first ever flight ends in drama'.

Byline: By Mark Stead South Wales Echo 

A headteacher today told of a plane drama - on his first ever flight.

Ken Underhill was on his way back from a sunny break in Tenerife when an alarm sounded in the cabin of his holiday jet.

The Excel Airways jet was forced to make an emergency landing at Tenerife's Sur airport.

Mr Underhill, 52, of Cardiff, said: 'It wasn't the best end to a very nice holiday - I even heard some people saying they won't fly again,' he said.

'This was the first time I've flown, but I will go on a plane again.' 'Things became tense when we saw the bomb disposal unit': A south Wales headteacher's holiday took a terrifying twist as his first experience of flying ended in an emergency landing.

Ken Underhill had enjoyed a 10-day sunshine break in Tenerife with his wife June.

But around 45 minutes into their flight back to Cardiff on Friday lunchtime, a fire alarm went off in the cabin of the Boeing 737 plane, operated by charter company Excel Airways - forcing it to turn back and make an emergency landing at Tenerife's Sur airport.

The 188 shocked passengers spent the rest of the day in a Spanish hotel before eventually flying back to Cardiff International Airport early on Saturday.

Mr Underhill, 52, who lives in Culverhouse Cross and is the headteacher of Westbourne School in Penarth, said: 'We'd had a great holiday, the plane left on time and everybody on board was happy - there was a great atmosphere.

'But after around 35 to 40 minutes, I noticed the seatbelt warning sign was still on, which I thought was strange.

'About five minutes later, we were told we would have to divert back to Tenerife for technical reasons.

'After that, things became pretty tense, especially when we had a bumpy landing and looked out of the window to see ambulances, fire engines and a bomb disposal unit.

'It was quite scary - everybody started applauding when we were told it was all OK, but we'd been holding our breath for a while.

'When you're told the plane has to make an emergency landing you feel very vulnerable because a 'technical problem' can mean anything - all sorts of things go through your mind.'

The atmosphere on the plane was a lot quieter when the holidaymakers eventually flew home, according to Mr Underhill.

'It wasn't the best end to a very nice holiday - I even heard some people saying they won't fly again,' he said.

'This was the first time I've flown, but I will go on a plane again.

'However, I do intend to contact Excel Airways about this. The crew on the plane were fantastic and the hotel was very nice, but in between we were herded about like cattle.

'We couldn't pick up our luggage until the Spanish police had released it - then we had to load it onto the coach taking us to the hotel.

'Our holiday was lovely and relaxing, but we could have done without all this.'

An inspection of the plane found no problems, but Excel Airways, which operates cut-price flights to Palma and Malaga, has not confirmed why the alarm went off and was unavailable for comment.