The strange excuse of a passenger when opening the emergency exit of a plane in mid-flight

The man opened the door when the plane was about 700 feet above the ground.

Seoul:

A passenger on an Asiana Airlines flight told police he opened a door on the plane minutes before it landed in Daegu, South Korea, on Friday because he was “uncomfortable,” the Yonhap News Agency reported.

The man, in his 30s, told police he opened the door because he “wanted to get off the plane quickly,” Yonhap said, citing the Daegu Dongbu Police Station. He also told police that he was stressed after recently losing his job.

trendswire could not immediately reach police at the station.

The man opened the door when the plane was about 700 feet (213 meters) above the ground, causing a panic on board.

Nine passengers were sent to the hospital with respiratory problems. All were released from the hospital after about two hours, a fire department official said.

Police plan to arrest the detained man after investigations are concluded, Yonhap said.

Jin Seong-hyun, a former Korean Air cabin security official, said this case was unprecedented to his knowledge, but passengers opened emergency exits without authorization while the plane was on the ground.

A South Korean transport ministry official said yesterday that it was possible to open emergency exits at or near ground level because the pressures inside and outside the cabin were similar.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)