WATCH | Terrifying seconds after passenger opens emergency door mid-air

A passenger suddenly opened the emergency door of an Asiana Airlines flight when it was attempting to land in Daegu, South Korea on Friday afternoon, as the wind gushed into the plane’s cabin and terrified passengers clutched their armrests.

The video of the scary incident is being widely shared on social media platforms. An airline official informed that a man in his 30s, who was sitting in the emergency seat, opened the door when the flight was about 700 feet (213 meters) above the ground and around two to three minutes away from landing in the city, which is 150 miles (240 kilometres) south of Seoul.

However, the company officials later informed that the plane landed safely and the man was arrested by the police. The man confessed that he opened the emergency door but did not explain the reason.

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200 people onboard, 12 injured in flight scare

Around 200 people were onboard the flight, which included 194 passengers, as per Asiana Airlines.

As per the Daegu Fire Department, 12 people received minor injuries due to hyperventilation and nine of them were admitted to hospitals in Daegu.

The Flightradar 24 tracking website identified the aircraft as an Airbus 321. The flight had departed from Jeju island and was to land on South Korea’s southern coast Daegu.

Flight attendants failed to stop the man because the plane was attempting to land, recounted witnesses while speaking to local media.

They stated that the man also attempted to jump out of the flight after opening the exit door. Describing the panic on board, 44-year-old passenger Yonhap said, "It was chaos with people close to the door appearing to faint one by one and flight attendants calling out for doctors on board through broadcasting.”

"I thought the plane was blowing up. I thought I was going to die like this," he added.

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"Bizzare" incident, says aviation expert

Aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas of Airline Ratings termed the incident as “very bizarre.”

“Technically, it’s not possible to open those doors in flight,” he said while speaking to CNN.

Thomas emphasised that an A321's landing speed is around 150 knots (172 mph) which means winds of that speed must have passed in the aircraft.

“The door, behind the wing of the aircraft, opened into that airstream. It seems implausible that the door could be opened in the first place and then against the airstream technically impossible, but somehow or another it has happened,” he added.
 

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