A 19-year-old Korean man tried to open a plane door mid-flight after complaining that he felt “pressure” on his chest, but luckily, the cabin crew stopped him.
The passenger, who was on a red-eye flight from Cebu in the Philippines to Seoul, South Korea, was “acting strangely” about an hour into the flight, so he was moved to the front row of the plane close to the exit door where staff could monitor him, officials from Jeju Airlines said.
After moving seats, the man suddenly ran towards the emergency door and tried to open, but he was “immediately subdued by the crew, who used a lasso rope and tie wraps to keep him controlled for the rest of the flight,” a Jeju Airlines official said.
The door stayed closed and the plane was left undamaged, and none of the 180 passengers on board were harmed in the incident, the airline added.
The passenger was handed over to police at Seoul’s Incheon Airport at 7:30 a.m. local after the plane landed on Monday, June 19.
Police brought the man for questioning and he has so far not provided a motive for his actions, Incheon Airport Police told CNN.
While the passenger’s attempt was foiled this time, the incident comes barely a month since someone actually opened a plane door on a Korean carrier.
Last month, a man in his 30s managed to open an aircraft’s emergency door just before landing at Daegu, sending strong gusts of wind through the plane’s cabin as terrified passengers on the Asiana Airlines flight gripped their armrests.
In 2016, low-cost Korean Air subsidiary Jin Air was forced to turn back 40 minutes into the flight after discovering one of the plane’s doors wasn’t completely shut.