Travellers and crew on a flight in South America had to fight, beat up and subdue an unruly passenger who tried to open emergency door of the airplane when it was still in air. The incident has been caught on camera and the video is being circulated on social media.
As reported by New York Post, the incident occurred on Tuesday (November 5) morning aboard a flight operated by Copa Airlines. The plane had taken off from Brasilia in Brazil and was headed to Panama City in Panama.
Video of the incident was reported by several passengers onboard. As reported by New York Post, the scuffle broke out close to when the flight was about to land. The unruly passenger took plastic knife from the onboard cutlery and grabbed one of the flight attendants trying to hold her hostage.
He then proceeded to try to open the emergency door when the plane was still in the air.
Such opening of an emergency door may result in a disastrous situation as external air may enter the cabin at very high speed potentially endangering its structure.
“A flight attendant started screaming, and another tried to hold him back, but couldn’t because he was too strong,” said Cristiano Carvalho, one of the passengers as quoted by New York Post.
“He went past the back emergency door after the warning. Then he started moving forward and trying to open it,” Carvalho added.
It was at this time the passengers intervened and a scuffle broke out. In spite of his strength, the unruly passenger could not defend himself against several passengers at once. He was beaten, overpowered while the crew restrained him using strings around his wrists.
The passenger was handed to authorities after the plane safely landed in Panama City.
Copa Airlines praised the crew and passengers in a statement.
“The crew acted quickly and, with the assistance of some passengers, applied the necessary safety protocols to control the situation until landing in Panama,” the spokesperson said as quoted by New York Post.
“Thanks to the professionalism of the crew, the safety of the flight and passengers was protected.”
