MONTREAL (AFP) - An Icelandair flight made an emergency landing in Canada after a cockpit window shattered during flight, a passenger said on Twitter.

On its website, the airline said only that Flight 688 was diverted to Bagotville, Quebec "due to a technical issue."

A passenger, Harrison Hove, tweeted that the "captain says his left window shattered and had to bring us down rapidly."

Hove, a news manager at the University of Florida, said all passengers appeared to be safe.

He reported that an airline employee estimated the crack at 20cm.

The Boeing 757 aircraft was flying from Orlando, Florida to Keflavik, Iceland with 155 passengers and seven crew, the local Le Quotidien newspaper reported.

Bagotville, about 200km north of Quebec, does not normally handle international flights, but Hove said Canadian immigration officers were sent onto the plane to clear the passengers.

Icelandair said another aircraft would arrive on Saturday so passengers could continue to Keflavik and then on to destinations in Europe.