A British Airways plane with 200 passengers on board survived a mid-air scare at 35,000 feet after a lump of ice from an aircraft flying 1,000 feet above damaged its windscreen leaving deep cracks, according to media reports.

The Boeing 777 aircraft was making the journey from London to San Jose in Costa Rica on Christmas Day when the freak accident took place.

The block of ice completely cracked up the two-inch-thick windscreen, which is built to withstand extreme force and is similar to bulletproof glass.

The aircraft landed safely at San Jose.

The incident has been described as a ‘one-in-a-million’ chance and left another 200 passengers stranded over Christmas as they could make it back home to London.