Reuters reported that the incident occurred at 12:45 p.m. on May 26 (local time) on an Asiana Airlines flight. The Airbus A321 carrying 194 passengers took off from Jeju Island and encountered an incident while preparing to land at Daegu airport.
"A male passenger sitting near the emergency exit on the left removed the cover and pulled the lever, causing the door to open at a height of about 200 meters above the ground. The passengers were wearing their seat belts at the time," said a spokesman for Asiana Airlines. "No one was injured in the incident, but nine people were hospitalized due to difficulty breathing."
Rescue workers transfer a passenger on a stretcher to an ambulance after an emergency exit door opened on a plane in Daegu. Photo: AP
The flight was carrying 48 elementary and middle school students who were on their way to a national sports festival in Ulsan, about 70 kilometers southeast of Daegu. Eight of the nine victims who were hospitalized were students.
"It was chaos. People sitting near the emergency exits seemed to faint one by one," a 44-year-old passenger told Reuters. "The flight attendant had to call doctors to the first aid cabin while others panicked and ran down the aisle. In my mind, I thought the plane was about to explode and I was going to die."
Another parent on the same flight shared: "The children were shaking and crying in panic. The children sitting near the emergency exit were probably the most shocked."
Another witness described the man appearing to want to jump out after opening the door: "The flight attendants shouted loudly, calling on other passengers to help hold and pull this person inside."
Plainclothes police arrest a passenger who opens an emergency exit at Daegu International Airport. Photo: AP
South Korean police arrested and questioned the male passenger. Initial investigations determined that the male passenger was traveling alone and was not drunk when he was arrested.
"It was difficult to have a normal conversation with the male passenger," a police official said. "We will investigate the motive and punish this person."
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