Passengers were holding tight and whispering what they thought would be their final words when British Airways crew members advised that they had accidentally pushed the emergency button and the plane was not going down.

Three hours into a British Airways flights from Miami to London cabin crew mistakenly activated an automated emergency announcement that said the plane was going down and passenger should prepare for a water landing, Daily Mail reported.

After thirty seconds of panic, staff turned the message off and apologised, explaining that it was accidentally triggered.

Despite the apology, some passengers on board the flight described the apology as “blasé” and the incident as “very distressing”.

Travelling with his wife, Mr Farquharsons explained that after the emergency announcement was made, “we looked at each other and figured we were both about to die”.  

“Families with children were distraught and people were in tears,” he continued

"About 30 seconds later one of the cabin crew told us to ignore the announcement and accept their apologies but the tone of [it] suggested they had not grasped how seriously we had taken it.

"Imagining yourself plunging towards a cold, watery grave in the middle of the Atlantic is a pretty horrific thought but they seemed very blasé about it."

A British Airways spokesperson confirmed that crew had apologised immediately and even took the time to reassure passengers one-on-one of their safety.

"The cabin crew cancelled the announcement immediately and sought to reassure customers that the flight was operating normally,” the spokesperson said.

"We would like to apologise to passengers on the flight for causing them undue concern."