A plane packed with UK tourists returning home was forced to divert mid-journey after a toilet malfunction.

Ryanair flight FR1667 should have reached Bristol around 5 pm yesterday afternoon after departing from Fuerteventura at lunchtime.

But it diverted to the neighbouring Canary Island of Lanzarote shortly into its 3.5-hour journey after the toilets stopped working, according to local air traffic controllers.

It was not immediately clear what exactly the problem, which in the past has led to passengers being forced to use bottles to relieve themselves, had been.

The plane touched down in Lanzarote just before 3 pm yesterday after an hour and a half in the air.

No one from the low-cost airline could be reached last night or early this morning to explain exactly what had happened and

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