A Canadian tourist who suffered a panic attack on a crowded airliner and believed he was being followed by an underground group allegedly tried to unlock the emergency exit door during takeoff.
Wong Sai Hung, 40, was arrested on Wednesday after threatening a fellow passenger as he tried to disembark from an Airbus A320 departing from Thailand’s Chiang Mai International Airport at around 9pm local time. nation thailand.
Immediately after the door was sealed and the plane lined up on the runway, Hung allegedly began screaming and demanded that the flight attendants on Thai Airways International Flight TG121 open the door and get off the plane.
When the flight attendant refused to comply with Mr. Fung’s manic demands, he bolted towards the exit at the back of the plane’s cockpit and attempted to force the cockpit open.
Shortly after, law enforcement burst into the plane and arrested the deranged traveler.
“All passengers, pilots and crew members were safe,” the airline told the outlet.
The tourist riots also disrupted other arriving flights, and there was so much movement on the runway that they had to wait in the air until they landed.
Mr Wong was charged with endangering an aircraft and was taken to Phupin Rajanivej police station for questioning.
Wong, who told police he worked as a computer engineer in Vancouver, said he suffered from a panic attack before the plane took off.
The paper said a Canadian interpreter told police that Wong was afraid of being attacked and added that he was being stalked by an underground group.
It is said that his fear led him to open the door to jump from the plane.
After TG121 was returned to the gate, the plane took off for Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport at around 12:30 a.m. the next day, Thai Airways said.
Mr. Wong’s alleged manic episode and arrest came after an Air Canada passenger tried to open the door in a “critical situation” on a flight from London to Toronto, forcing fellow passengers to restrain him. This happened just two weeks after I didn’t get it.
On January 21, an elderly man on board flight AC855 attempted to open the aircraft door mid-flight, but was unable to do so at cruising altitude.
Flight attendants restrained the passengers “as part of flight safety procedures,” police told the outlet. He was picked up by police at Toronto Pearson International Airport around 3 p.m.
In another terrifying incident on January 10, a passenger on another Air Canada flight opened the plane’s door and fell onto the tarmac while boarding in Toronto for a flight to Dubai.
The man suffered minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital following the incident, which caused a six-hour delay.
