Ananova:

A stewardess caused £20,000 of damage on a jumbo jet when her curry exploded in a microwave at 35,000ft.

The transatlantic flight from Heathrow carried on to Miami after cabin crew grabbed a fire extinguisher to douse the blazing oven, reports The Sun.

British Airways insisted there was no threat to passengers' safety - although the Boeing 747 needed days of repairs.

The air hostess was heating up a ready meal she bought from a supermarket when the curry exploded.

BA has now banned staff from using new high-powered microwaves in club class kitchens for non-airline food on its fleet of jumbos.

A secret memo emailed to all BA long-haul crews - entitled "Microwave incident" - warns that grub needs special packaging because the ovens are twice as strong as domestic ones.

It says the incident with the curry had "disastrous consequences". One BA employee said: "Many cabin crew like to bring their own meals to eat.

"At first we thought the microwaves were a godsend. But this unfortunate incident has left us with egg on our faces."

BA stressed: "At no time was there any danger to passengers or the aircraft."