A passenger on a flight to South Korea sparked panic after trying to open the emergency door of a plane mid-flight, with dramatic video showing flight attendants tackling him.
The suspect, who has not been named, was said to have sat in a cabin crew seat without permission while on Korean Air flight KE658 from Bangkok, Thailand, to Incheon, South Korea, on November 7.
When an air hostess ordered him to leave, he reportedly threatened her despite being warned that he may have been violating Korea’s Aviation Security Act.
Footage shows flight attendants scrambling to stop the man as he grabbed the door latch and allegedly tried to open it.
The crew were able to restrain the man, who reports say threatened them and had been acting aggressively, and he was taken to a separate area to calm down.
A passenger on a flight to South Korea sparked panic after allegedly trying to open the emergency door of a plane mid-flight
An air hostess goes to stop the man, who reportedly threatened one of the crew members after sitting in their seat
Several flight attendants try to grab the man after noticing him going for the door
The Airbus A330-300 with 238 passengers onboard landed without delays at the Incheon International Airport in Seoul at around 4.45 am.
The man was handed over to the Incheon International Airport Police for investigation.
Korean Air said in a statement: ‘The incident was managed according to our established security protocols, to prioritise passenger safety and operational integrity.
‘While the situation was successfully contained, we will cooperate with relevant authorities in the investigation of this matter.
‘Korean Air maintains a zero-tolerance approach to behaviours that compromise aviation safety and will continue to respond decisively to such incidents.’
In June 2023, a teenage passenger sparked panic on a Jeju Airlines flight from Cebu, the Philippines, to Seoul, South Korea, when he also tried to open the emergency door of the plane.
The man is tackled to the ground by the crewmembers. He was later handed over to police
The South Korean man, 19, reportedly dashed to open the door but was quickly subdued by the crew ‘using a lasso’.
They allegedly bound him with the rope and tie wraps and moved him to the front of the plane to be observed.
He reportedly tested positive for drugs upon landing. He was handed over to the police at the Incheon International Airport.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
