Asiana Airlines: Passenger arrested for opening flight door during South Korea flight

A man who opened the door of an Asiana Airlines flight in South Korea has been arrested.

All 194 passengers survived the plane, which landed safely, but its door remained open at Daegu International Airport on Friday.

Some passengers fainted, others suffocated and were taken to hospital, local media reported.

The 30-year-old man said he was short of breath and wanted to get off as soon as possible, Yonhap news agency reported.

Police said during questioning the man said he was stressed after losing his job.

OZ8124, an Airbus A321-200 jet, took off from Jeju Island at 11:45 a.m. local time (03:45 GMT) on Friday.

About an hour after landing, a male passenger opened the emergency door when the plane was 250m from the ground.

A passenger’s video shared on social media shows a gap in the left side of the plane and wind blowing across rows of seated passengers.

Witnesses told local media that the flight attendants were unable to stop him as the plane was about to land.

The man also left the plane door open and tried to jump out, they said.

Passengers described panic on the plane.

“There was chaos as people near the door fainted one by one and the flight attendants called the doctors on board,” a 44-year-old passenger told Yonhap.

“I thought the plane was going to explode, I thought I was going to die like this,” he added.

Several school-age children were also on board on their way to a weekend sporting event.

A mother of one of the students told Yonhap: “The children were shaking, crying, scared.”