Chaos erupted Thursday when a passenger allegedly opened the emergency exit door during a flight in South Korea Friday, injuring multiple passengers onboard.
Footage from inside the Asiana Airlines plane posted on social media shows the wide open cabin door and passengers clinging onto their seats as wind blasts through the Airbus A321. The passenger, who has only been an identified as a male in his 30s, allegedly opened the door just minutes before the plane was about to land.
He was subsequently detained after the pilots came to a safe landing in the city of Daegu, Reuters reported. No motive or reason for his actions has been disclosed by authorities.
A passenger opened an emergency exit door during a flight in South Korea, forcing the crew to land while it was still open.
Air blew through the cabin of the Asiana Airlines jet, slightly injuring 12 people. pic.twitter.com/Nl8HqXeiLb
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 26, 2023
“I thought the plane was going to explode … It looked like passengers next to the open door were fainting,” one passenger told a local Korean news agency. Nine passengers, all of whom were teenagers, were taken to emergency rooms for breathing issues after the plane landed, officials noted. (RELATED: GRAPHIC: Horrifying Video Shows The Final Moments Inside Doomed Nepalese Flight)
The suspect was sitting next to the emergency exit and pulled off the cover and lever of the door roughly 656 feet off the ground, a spokesperson for the airline stated, according to Reuters. Other reports suggest that the passengers attempted to prevent the suspect from reaching for the door, but he was able to partially open it.