A passenger opened the door when the plane was still 200 meters off the ground before landing in Daegu, South Korea.
Great fright for the passengers of an Asiana Airlines Airbus A321-200. A few minutes before landing in the city of Daegu, a man sitting near the door of the plane managed to open it, causing panic among the passengers. The plane was still 200 meters above the ground.
The Airbus A321-200 aircraft landed safely around 12:40 p.m. He had left Jeju Vacation Island an hour earlier. “I thought the plane was going to explode… It looked like the passengers were going to faint next to the open door,” a 44-year-old passenger told Yonhap news agency. The flight attendants had to make an announcement and ask if there were any doctors on board. There were no injuries, but nine people, all teenagers, were taken to hospital with breathing problems, according to the Daegu Fire Department spokesman.
South Korean authorities have arrested the suspect, Portal reports. We don’t know his motives. A flight safety investigation is underway. In particular, the exact circumstances of opening this door must be determined and whether the airline followed the emergency exit protocol.
A manager explained that it was possible to defuse an emergency exit at ground level if the pressure inside and outside the cabin was the same.