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British Airways security officials were trying to trace the owner of an unclaimed mobile phone which started ringing on a flight from Heathrow to New York last night, forcing the pilot to turn back after passengers panicked.

Mobile phones have been banned from cabin baggage since last Thursday's anti-terror swoop over an alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners leaving from UK airports, but the handset in question started ringing soon after BA flight 179 left Heathrow at 8pm.

The pilot contacted BA security team in Heathrow and was advised that the flight could continue safely, but he decided to turn back 90 minutes into the flight after angry passengers complained that they were being put at risk.

Of the 217 passengers aboard, only 152 decided to stay on the Boeing 777 as it again took off for JFK airport, where it arrived this morning at 8.20am UK time.

A British Airways spokeswoman said that nobody on the plane admitted to owning the phone or having brought it on board and the airline was investigating "how the phone came to be on board and who it belongs to".

"The pilot did take the decision to turn around, despite the fact that the phone had been found and its battery disconnected," she said. "This was largely due to passenger reactions - some passengers were understandably concerned.

"I don't know if they were panicking, but certainly they were concerned."

From today, under a relaxation of the security guidelines accompanying a downgrading of the official terror threat, passengers can once again take hand baggage aboard flights, including electronic equipment such as mobile phones.

A businessman who was among the passengers told BBC News 24: "When the plane took off a mobile phone started ringing. One and a half hours later the captain made the decision, having spoken to his company, that we needed to come back."

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