There was terror on a Russian flight on Monday, Jan. 9, when an AN-26 plane’s rear door sprang open soon after takeoff.
Hats belonging to the 25 passengers flew off their heads and vanished into the cold air as the cabin depressurised.
Passengers’ luggage were also reportedly sucked out.
Thankfully, no passenger was sucked out of the plane.
A video shows the visible gaping rear door on the IrAero Antonov aircraft, which had taken off from Magan in Siberian region Yakutia, in minus 41C cold.
The passenger filming the video is in a rear seat on the plane, bound for Magadan on Russia’s Pacific coast.
The door, used to load cargo and luggage, is normally curtained off from the passengers at the back of the plane. The curtain can be seen blowing in the wind in the terrifying video.
The man filming the nightmare is heard swearing in shock at the open door behind him.
A second video from 112 news outlet showed the terrified passengers in the howling ice-cold wind with the rear door open.
The pilot made a rapid emergency landing at Magan in Siberian region Yakutia, and all on board were “safe” despite the intense cold in the cabin during the drama.
A report said: “Fortunately, the 25 people on board, including the crew, were unharmed.
“Only the caps off some people’s heads flew into the white void.”
A male passenger said: “A man sitting at the rear of the plane was nearly blown away.
“He had just unfastened his seat belt.
“And he was almost blown out of the plane.”
An aviation expert told The Insider that An-26 planes twin-engine turboprop planes — which were introduced in the USSR in 1970 and stopped being manufactured in 1986 — should no longer be used.
He said it was not surprising that the locking system on the door had malfunctioned.
Most luggage belonging to passengers was sucked out of the plane’s door when it burst open, said later reports.
It is believed all the passengers were strapped in for takeoff and wearing coats having boarded in the intense cold.
An investigation is underway into the disturbing incident.
Watch the video below.
✈️ Nothing unusual: in Russia, the door of the plane opened right during the flight at an altitude of several kilometers
An-26, flying from Magan to Magadan, suddenly depressurized – judging by the video, which was filmed by one of the passengers, the back door was half opened. pic.twitter.com/GdBFdHdRML
— Oriannalyla 🇺🇦 (@Lyla_lilas) January 9, 2023
