Indian Man Attempts to Open Emergency Door on AirAsia Flight While Midair

An Indian man caused quite a commotion inside a packed AirAsia flight on Monday after he attempted to open the plane’s emergency exit door while in midair.

Crew members and some fellow passengers reportedly sustained minor injuries after they rushed to restrain 32-year-old Aftab Ahmed as the plane was preparing to make its descent at Birsa Munda Airport.

Upon landing, the misbehaving passenger was briefly detained before he was handed over to CISF (Central Indian Security Force) in Ranchi, India for further investigation, reports AFP (via AsiaOne).

“AirAsia would like to confirm that the airline encountered an unruly passenger onboard (a) flight… from New Delhi to Ranchi on July 10,” an AirAsia rep said in a statement.

While a report from Press Trust of India identified Ahmed as a resident of Ranchi, it did not indicate what type of penalty the detained passenger will be facing.

“A man tried to open the emergency door… minutes before landing,” the report said. “He also allegedly injured a few passengers and crew members when they attempted to stop him.”

It is currently unknown what his motivation to open the emergency door was.

Incidentally, Ahmed’s actions happen to come just a few months after India announced its plans of creating a national no-fly list of unruly passengers.

Under the proposal from the civil aviation ministry, passengers may be banned based on three categories of unruly behavior: lewd comments and sexual harassment, damaging aircraft, and murderous assault.

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