Man who opened flying plane’s door was in hurry to get off: Media

The passenger opened the emergency door of Asiana Airlines’ Airbus A321 when it was about 213 meters above the ground.

The passenger on an Asiana Airlines flight who opened an emergency exit as the plane was coming in to land in South Korea told police he did so because he was uncomfortable and wanted to disembark quickly, local media reported.

The man in his 30s opened the emergency door on Friday when the Airbus A321 was about 213 meters (700 feet) above the ground when it landed at Daegu International Airport, causing panic on board.

“During the day [police] When questioned, the man told officials he had been under a lot of stress after recently losing his job and that he opened the door because he wanted to leave quickly after feeling suffocated,” South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported Saturday.

Police plan to charge the man, who has not been identified, with violating the country’s aviation security law, Yonhap reported.

Nine passengers were sent to hospital with breathing problems after the incident, leaving many passengers terrified. All were released from the hospital after about two hours, a fire department official said.

Video footage apparently taken by a person on board and posted to social media shows passengers’ hair being tossed about by air pouring into the cabin when the emergency door opened.

Jin Seong-hyun, a former Korean air cabin safety officer, said this case was unprecedented, to his knowledge, but that passengers opened emergency exits without permission while planes were grounded.

An official from South Korea’s transport ministry said yesterday it was possible to open emergency exits at or near ground level because the pressure inside and outside the cabin was similar.