A passenger who tried to open the emergency exit doors of a plane in mid-flight - and two others who joined him in a scuffle with flight attendants - have reportedly been detained by Chinese police, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

A Capital Airlines plane was flying from Changsha in central China's Hunan province to Sanya in the southern island of Hainan yesterday when flight attendants saw the man trying to open the emergency exit door, SCMP said, citing a report by zgjtb.com, a news portal under the Ministry of Transport.

When the plane's crew stopped the man, he threatened to kill himself, SCMP said. A scuffle then broke out in which two other passengers joined the man in fighting the crew.

The flight attendants eventually prevailed and alerted airport police after the flight landed safely in Sanya.

A staff member at Sanya Phoenix International Airport confirmed the case, but said that the airport authority was still checking the details, SCMP reported.