Man who opened Asiana plane door in midair tells police he was ‘uncomfortable’
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No one was hurt in the incident, but some passengers experienced breathing difficulties due to shock.
PHOTO: AFP
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SEOUL – A passenger on an Asiana Airlines flight told police he opened a door on the plane minutes before it landed
The man told police that he “wanted to get off the plane quickly”, Yonhap said, citing an official at the Daegu Dongbu Police Station. He said he was stressed after losing his job recently. Officials gave his surname as Lee but not his full name, as is usual custom.
The man, who is in his 30s, opened the door when the plane was about 210m above the ground, causing panic on board.
Nine passengers were taken to hospital with breathing issues. All were discharged after about two hours, a fire department official said.
Police plan to arrest the detained man after investigations are concluded, Yonhap said.
He faces up to 10 years in prison for violating aviation safety laws.
A video clip shot by a passenger shows wind ripping through the open door, drawing shouts of surprise from some passengers.
Another video shared on social media shows passengers sitting in the emergency exit row next to an open door being buffeted by strong wind.
“It was chaos with people close to the door appearing to faint one by one and flight attendants calling out for doctors on board,” a passenger, 44, told Yonhap.
“I thought the plane was blowing up. I thought I was going to die.”
A transport ministry official told Agence France-Presse that this was “the first such incident” they were aware of in Korean aviation history. Experts said the nation’s aviation industry has a solid safety record.
Former Korean Air cabin safety official Jin Seong-hyun said that as far as he knew, this case was unprecedented, but that passengers had opened emergency exits without authorisation previously, while the plane was on the ground.
A transport ministry official said on Friday it is possible to open emergency exits at or near ground level as the pressure inside and outside the cabin is similar. REUTERS, AFP
