Passengers aboard a JetBlue flight heading to Austin, Texas, were happy to be alive after they survived a terrifying experience 15 minutes after their plane took off from Long Beach Airport in California on Thursday.

According to authorities, one of the two engines on Flight 1416 overheated and blew out, causing the plane to fill up with smoke Thursday morning.

"On Sept. 18, the flight crew aboard flight 1416 reported an issue with the number two engine and returned to Long Beach Airport," Jet Blue officials said in a statement, reports CBS Los Angeles.

Passengers said the plane was flying over the ocean when the cabin filled with smoke.

"We immediately smelled the burning," said Dean Delbaugh, one of the flight passengers, according Long Beach (Calif.) Press Telegram. "You couldn't see the person next to you."

Another passenger named Jarrod West recalled the horrifying ordeal, saying "There was a loud boom and then immediately the cabin filled with smoke." He added that the flight's oxygen masks didn't automatically drop, a stewards had to manually deploy them.

Passengers said that as the plane began its descent to land, the flight attendants were ordered them to brace for landing.

"The flight attendants were yelling 'brace, brace' and they kept repeating it and repeating it on the top of their lungs," West said.

"I'm happy to be alive," he said. "I don't think I'll ever be mean to anyone ever again."

Fortunately, the pilots were able to turn the plane around and make an emergency landing where the 142 passengers and five crew members were evacuated safely around 9:30 a.m.

Although no one was seriously injured, Jake Heflin of the Long Beach Fire Department stated, "There were four patients that were treated and evaluated by Long Beach Fire Department paramedics on scene of the incident itself, one of those patients complained of shortness of breath and was transported to a local area hospital," reports CBS Los Angeles.