DAILY MAIL
In what would be anyone’s worst nightmare, a plane door opened in mid-air when a passenger grabbed the emergency exit lever.
Video shows passengers gripping onto their seats as the wind billowed into the aircraft as it descended towards the South Korean city of Daegu on Friday.
Children began shaking with fear and crying when the door of the Asiana Airlines plane opened suddenly, witnesses said.
Nine passengers were so terrified that they were sent to hospital with breathing difficulties once the plane landed safely at Daego airport at 12.40pm local time with the door still open.
Police have detained a male passenger in his 30s for questioning after he opened the door when the plane was still about 650ft above the ground, Yonhap News Agency reports. It is unclear why he did so.
Some people on board tried to stop the man from opening the door but were unsuccessful, the Transport Ministry said.
The plane, carrying 194 people including 48 teenage athletes who were set to compete in a national sports event in the city of Olsan, had departed from the island of Jeju when the door opened.
‘Children quivered and cried in panic,’ the mother of one of the athletes said. ‘Those sitting near the exit must have been shocked the most.’
