A tourist has told of her fears after one of the engines on her Atlanta to Bermuda plane blew up just moments after take off.

Faye Farley was looking forward to visiting her boyfriend during a three-week stay on the Island when her straight forward journey from Atlanta on Tuesday went wrong.

She said the Delta aircraft had only been in the air for a couple of a minutes when there was suddenly a loud explosion.

"There was a big bang and everyone was looking around to see what had happened," she said.

"Then, the plane seemed to go silent. It was almost like we were coasting in the air.

"My first impression was maybe that a tyre had blown on one of the wheels, but then I thought that you never know these days and it could have been a bomb.

"A mechanical problem did not come to my mind. I thought it was the tyre or a bomb. It was a scary experience, especially because there was no sound."

Ms Farley said the pilot came over the address system and informed passengers that the right engine had gone down at 10,000 feet.

The aircraft returned to Atlanta and passengers were finally able to board a different plane some two hours later, getting to Bermuda three hours later than scheduled, at 6.30 p.m.

Ms Farley, a 24-year-old journalist from Kansas City, Missouri, said she never thought she was going to die, but she was afraid.

She added: "There were a couple of screams from the back of the plane when people heard what had happened. And apparently the people who were sitting on the side of the plane said they saw the engine blow.

"We seemed to circle around for 15 minutes and then landed again without any problems. The fire brigade was waiting for us when we landed."

Ms Farley said both the pilots and stewards were very calm, one steward telling her as they left the aircraft that the plane was capable of flying with only one engine, but for safety reasons it must fly on two.

She added: "We arrived only a few hours late. It was a bit of a nightmare, but we made it here fine."