British Airways apologized today for an error that left passengers on board a flight from Miami to London in a state of panic and shock.

Passengers traveling on British Airways Flight 206 were about three hours into their flight early Friday morning when an announcement warned them to brace themselves for an emergency water landing because the plane was about to go down.

"This is an emergency. We will shortly be making an emergency landing on water," the taped message said, played at around 3 a.m. on the overnight flight.

The cabin erupted in panic as startled passengers woke to the announcement and feared for their lives.

"My wife was crying and passengers were screaming," a passenger from Scotland told The Telegraph.  "I thought we were going to die."

The crew played a second announcement a minute later, however, telling passengers to ignore the warning.