Watch: Inside the cabin as the plane’s doors opened mid-flight
A man has been arrested for opening the door on an Asiana Airlines flight upon landing in South Korea.
All 194 passengers survived the flight, which landed safely but with the doors open at Daegu International Airport on Friday.
Some passengers fainted, while others had breathing problems and were taken to hospital, local media reported.
The man in his 30s said he felt suffocated and wanted to get off quickly, Yonhap news agency reported.
Police said the man claimed during questioning that he was under stress after losing his job, according to the report.
Flight OZ8124, an Airbus A321-200, took off from Jeju Island at around 11:45 local time (03:45 GMT) on Friday.
As it landed about an hour later, a male passenger opened the emergency door while the plane was still 250 meters from the ground.
A passenger video shared on social media shows a void on the left side of the plane and rows of seated passengers cheering.
The flight attendants failed to stop him because the plane was about to land, witnesses told local media.
They said the man also tried to jump out of the plane after opening the door.
Passengers described panic on the plane.
“It was chaos with people near the door seeming to pass out one by one, and the flight attendants were calling the plane’s doctors over the air,” one 44-year-old passenger told Yonhap.
“I thought the plane had exploded. I thought I was going to die like this,” he added.
An Asiana Airlines plane landed in Daegu with the doors open
Several school-age children were also on board, on their way to a weekend sporting event.
The mother of one of the students told Yonhap, “The children were shaking, crying and scared.”
