The unlucky travellers – who had been diverted to Stansted after the scare – were pictured standing on the hard shoulder of the motorway after the bus packed up.

Passenger Rob Zirgulis, 21, said the 14-hour trip from Lithuania to their home in the UK was the "journey from hell".

The apprentice plumber was travelling with partner Gabriele Snipaite, 19, and three-month-old baby Kamila when their flight had to land for "security reasons".

They were held for over five-hours in Stansted before boarding a road replacement bus to Luton Airport.

But the 50-seater broke down on the M11 motorway just 10-minutes after leaving the airport. They had to wait 30-minutes for another bus to pick them up.

Rob then drove his family 100-miles from Luton to the couple's home in Norwich.

Last night he told The Sun: "We had only just left Stansted when the bus broke down. We're talking less than 10 minutes.

"We were waiting on the bus for 10-minutes and another 20 minutes on the side of the motorway for another bus to come.

"It's been a very long day – a journey from hell.

"Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse, it did."

He added: "We were flying around in circles and were told we couldn't land in Luton and had to land in Stansted over a security issue.

"We had no idea it was a bomb threat until we saw the news."

Another Brit traveller, 34, who asked not to be named, said: "We were delayed for 30 minutes when we were in Lithuania to do additional checks.

"We didn't know it was a bomb threat until we landed at Stansted."

It earlier emerged the fake bomb threat was called in before the flight had even taken off in Lithuania but it was cleared to fly – until it reached UK airspace and was intercepted by RAF fighter jets.

When the packed plane crossed the border the jets escorted it to land at Stansted Airport before armed cops evacuated stunned passengers from the aircraft.

The heavily armed jets raced into the sky after threats were made this morning of a suspect package on board the flight from Lithuania to London.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman confirmed the "decision was made to launch" the Typhoons following on from information from Air Traffic Control.

Armed cops, ambulances and fire crews swarmed the tarmac at London Stansted as plane was forced to circle above the English Channel having been diverted from Luton just before 9am.

Extraordinary photos show the passenger jet flanked by two military jets this morning as it circled above the airport.

Others taken from the ground showed heavily armed cops on the tarmac after the plane had landed, escorting stunned passengers from the aircraft.

A Ryanair spokeswoman said the flight had been delayed in Lithania after authorities received a "suspected hoax security alert" but police cleared the aircraft to fly.

She added: "While on approach to Luton, upon the request of UK authorities, the aircraft diverted to London Stansted in line with security procedures, and landed normally at Stansted, where customers disembarked and were transferred to Luton by coach."

Travellers told of how they had to drop their hand luggage at the back of the plane as they were rushed off and onto a nearby bus - walking through two lines of armed cops.

A passenger on board the flight said they were only told of the diversion as the plane came into land at Stansted, but claimed the threat may have been known before the flight departed Lithuania.

He added: "Before we boarded in Kaunas we were delayed by 20mins. We saw fire engines and police but were not told why."

He said once they had left the plane sniffer dogs were brought in by the heavily armed officers to check all the luggage.

Passenger Jonathan Zulberg told Mirror Online: "I was the first seat on the plane. We were told we were being diverted then I heard the air stewardess speaking.

"I asked what happened and was informed that a bomb threat was made on the plane. We were delayed getting on the plane in Kaunas by about 30 to 40 mins.

"I saw fire engines and police on tarmac but wasn’t told anything till we were coming into land in Stansted. Apparently threat was made while we were still in Kaunas."

He confirmed the claims that the threat was not told to passengers while they were in flight and said it was announced when the plane landed.

He added there was no "outright panic" but a "feeling of helplessness"

Shocked passengers waited for more than an hour on the tarmac before they were taken, with a police escort, back to the terminal just after 10am.

A Ryanair spokesman said: "This flight from Kaunas to London Luton diverted to London Stansted in line with procedures after Lithuanian authorities received a suspected hoax security alert.

"The aircraft landed normally at Stansted and customers will be transferred to Luton by coach when cleared to do so."

Essex Police said just after 11am nothing suspicious was found on board the plane.

One person on board the plane tweeted after it landed: "Everyone now on buses. Escorted off plane by armed police all standing in line.

"Around 20-25 fully armed officers."

Jason Maerz, 25, who works at Stansted, told the Mirror: “I just arrived and parked my car and as I got out, six or seven police cars came through the security gates.

“They were heading round past the cargo point and there were two Eurofighter jets flying overhead. One was circling quite high and the other was quite low down to the ground.

Worried eyewitnesses reported seeing the fighter jets circling above their homes near the airport this morning as planes were grounded.

The jets were sent from RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire to intercept the flight, the Ministry of Defence said.

Times defence editor Deborah Haynes tweeted the Typhoon jets had been scrambled after reported of a possible suspect package on board.

Witnesses told how they saw six ambulances, six fire engines and five police cars rushing onto the runway.

Passengers on commercial flights tweeted how they had been stuck on the tarmac with pilots telling them all flights were grounded.

Earlier a loud bang was reported in Suffolk - with police confirming it was thought to be a "sonic boom".

A MoD spokesman said: “The RAF can confirm Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon aircraft were launched this morning from RAF Coningsby to intercept a civilian aircraft.

"The aircraft was safely escorted to Stansted airport.

"The Typhoon aircraft were authorised to transit at supersonic speed for operational reasons; any inconvenience caused to local residents is regretted.”

Stansted is a designated airport for dealing with hijacks and major security alerts.

Typhoon pilots are on standby 24 hours a day to defend UK airspace.

The flight was initially heading to Luton before it was diverted to Stansted.

A Stansted spokesperson said: "A Ryanair aircraft diverted into London Stansted at approximately 8.55am this morning.

"The aircraft, which was flying from Kaunas to Luton, landed safely with Essex Police in attendance.

"Flight operations were briefly held while the aircraft landed.

"The airport is open and flights are arriving and departing as normal."

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