SEOUL: South Korean police Friday detained a man who opened a door of an Asiana Airlines plane minutes before it was due to land in Daegu, causing panic among the passengers, officials said.
The Airbus A321-200 plane landed safely at 12:40pm (local time). It had set off from the island of Jeju an hour earlier. Nine passengers, all teenagers, were sent to hospital after suffering breathing issues, a Daegu fire department official said.
“I thought the plane was going to explode … It looked like passengers next to the open door were fainting,” an unidentified passenger told the Yonhap News Agency.
The official said it was possible to open the emergency exit when the plane was near the ground as the pressure inside and outside were similar. The plane was two or three minutes away from landing when the male passenger sitting next to an emergency exit opened a cover and pulled a lever, so the door opened with the plane 656 feet off the ground, an airline spokesperson said
The transport ministry said police had taken into custody the man who had opened the door and authorities were looking into whether the air crew had followed protocols to manage emergency exits.
The Airbus A321-200 plane landed safely at 12:40pm (local time). It had set off from the island of Jeju an hour earlier. Nine passengers, all teenagers, were sent to hospital after suffering breathing issues, a Daegu fire department official said.
“I thought the plane was going to explode … It looked like passengers next to the open door were fainting,” an unidentified passenger told the Yonhap News Agency.
The official said it was possible to open the emergency exit when the plane was near the ground as the pressure inside and outside were similar. The plane was two or three minutes away from landing when the male passenger sitting next to an emergency exit opened a cover and pulled a lever, so the door opened with the plane 656 feet off the ground, an airline spokesperson said
The transport ministry said police had taken into custody the man who had opened the door and authorities were looking into whether the air crew had followed protocols to manage emergency exits.