A passenger aboard a South Korean airliner opened the emergency door moments before the plane landed, causing chaos and panic amongst the 194 passengers in the windswept cabin.
An Asiana Airlines A321 was about to land in Daegu after a flight from the southern island of Jeju on Friday when a passenger pulled the emergency exit handle at an altitude of about 700 feet, authorities said.
Some passengers tried to forestall this person from reaching the door, however it partially opened, sending air into the cabin as terrified airmen grabbed their armrests.
Amongst the 194 passengers on board were several teenage athletes who were heading to a weekend sports event in Ulsan.
![The emergency exit is wide open.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011793530.jpg?w=723)
![A passenger opened the emergency exit door on a South Korean flight on Friday, causing a gust of air in the cabin before the plane landed safely.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/South_Korea_Plane_Incident_27054-1519e.jpg?w=1024)
The Transport Ministry said not less than a dozen people were barely injured in the harrowing incident before the plane landed safely.
Several showed signs of difficulty respiration and were taken to a neighborhood hospital, Jonhap said.
“It was chaos, people near the door looked as if it would pass out one after the other, and flight attendants were calling onboard doctors via transmissions,” one passenger told a neighborhood news agency.
![Police detained an unidentified person who opened the door, the airline said.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/South_Korea_Plane_Incident_60115-2414d.jpg?w=1024)
“I believed the plane was exploding. I believed I used to be going to die like this,” added the 44-year-old.
The mother of one in all the teenagers told the news service: “The kids were shaking and crying in panic. Those sitting at the exit should have been the most shocked.”
The suspect, identified as a person in his 30s, was arrested at Daegu International Airport and confessed to opening the door, but didn’t say why. reported CNN.
![Some passengers were terrified by the incident, but no one was injured, although some passengers were examined at the hospital.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/South_Korea_Plane_Incident_35580-4f6f6.jpg?w=1024)
Witnesses told local media that the unnerved passenger also tried to leap out of the plane.
“It’s hard to confer with him normally,” one official told the BBC. “We are going to investigate the motive of the crime and produce it to justice.”
Airline Rankings aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas described the incident as “very bizarre”.
“It’s technically impossible to open these doors on the fly,” he told CNN.
He said winds of about 170 miles per hour would pass the plane when the doors were open.
“It seems implausible that the door might be opened first after which upstream, which is technically inconceivable, however it happened anyway,” Thomas added.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport reported that a land development official
With postal wires
![](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011771407.jpg?w=920)
![An Asiana Airlines plane is parked at Daegu International Airport.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011770750.jpg?w=1024)