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The Thomas Cook aircraft was evacuated in Hurghada after smoke was coming from a passenger's seat Reuters

Several passengers were injured as they raced for the exits on a London-bound flight after smoke started rising from under a passenger's seat.

Thomas Cook said emergency slides were used to help evacuate 251 passengers and nine crew from the aircraft at Hurghada, Egypt which was heading to Gatwick, at around 1.40am local time on Wednesday (19 July).

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A Thomas Cook spokesman said: "Flight MT519 to London Gatwick carried out a controlled evacuation before take-off at Hurghada airport after the crew reported a smell of burning and smoke at the rear of the cabin."

One passenger was taken to hospital with a suspected shoulder injury and two others were treated at the airport clinic, the Mirror reported.

But passengers took to social media to describe the scene.

One user called Wendy Derek wrote: "This was not a controlled evacuation, it was an emergency one with people getting injured. They then left people standing by the plane."

Another, Claire McIlroy wrote: "Sister's family stuck, brother-in-law injured during evacuation! More information on twitter than your rep is telling them!"

Meanwhile, Fawwaz Khan‏ said: "Not happy at all! What is going on with my sisters flight? Evacuation, stranded, no info!"

The Daily Mail reported that the airline said the smoke on board the plane was caused by a mechanical issue.

Passengers were being flown back to the UK on a different plane.