Pilot asks passengers to pray after plane violently shakes midair

The pilot of an Air Asia flight told passengers to say a prayer when the plane started to violently shake.

One passenger said the cabin was shuddering like a washing machine.

The Airbus with 359 passengers headed to Malaysia turned backed to Australia Sunday, about 90 minutes into the 6-hour flight.

"Lots of people crying. Lots of people pulling out the life jackets and stuff, pretty much preparing for that sort of thing. We thought there was a good chance that we were going down," one passenger said.

The plane landed safely in Australia and no one was hurt.

Investigators are trying to determine what caused the "technical issue."

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