WATCH: Passenger plane's propeller stops spinning and engine catches fire

This is the terrifying moment passengers looked out of their plane window to see its propellers not spinning - after an engine caught fire.

Hair-raising footage shows smoke coming from the plane's engine at an altitude of around 5,000ft, with farmers' fields visible below.

The Nok Air twin-propeller aircraft carrying 84 people took off from Sakon Nakhon, Thailand, at 3.10pm but just two minutes later its engine was engulfed in flames.

Power to the engine was cut - leaving the Bombardier Dash 8 Q-400 to make a swift U-turn and perform an emergency landing at the airport it had just left.

The co-pilot can be heard telling passengers there is an engine failure, adding an apology for the inconvenience.

It landed at around 3.25pm, some 15 minutes after take-off.

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One passenger described how the aircraft shook slightly during the fire and feared that something much worse was about to happen.

Fellow-flyer Wee Boonsena said: "We had just taken off and about one or two minutes later suddenly there was fire coming out of the exhaust of the engine.

"This happened two times about 5,000ft high and it was a bit scary.

"But thanks to the training of the pilot and the professionalism of the crew it was handled safely."

Nok Air confirmed that the plane made an unscheduled landing.