A passenger on a South Korean plane who sat next to a man who opened the plane’s emergency exit during the flight said he thought he was going to die during the nightmarish ordeal captured on video.
Lee Yoon-joon on Saturday described a terrifying moment on an Asiana Airlines flight to Daegu, South Korea, when he had to physically restrain a passenger sitting next to him.
“Frankly, I thought, ‘Am I going to die?'” Lee told Yonhap News. According to a translation from ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Lee said she noticed the man sitting next to her left the emergency exit door open and grabbed him with her “bare hands”.
When the door opened, Mr. Lee said he found it difficult to breathe.
A shocking video of the incident has gone viral on the internet. The video clip shows Lee in red pants, clearly in pain as air is frantically blasted around her face.
Prior to the incident, Li said the passenger sitting next to her made her feel uncomfortable.
Lee said the suspect had told police he had only opened the door because he was “uncomfortable” and “wanted to get off the plane as soon as possible” and apparently made eye contact with other passengers for an unusually long time. It seems
The suspect told police that he had recently lost his job and was under stress.
The 33-year-old aviator was arrested on Sunday for violating the Aviation Security Act, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
An Asiana Airlines Airbus A321-200 was carrying about 200 people on an hour-long flight from South Korea’s Jeju Island to Daegu when the horrific incident happened on Friday. Asiana Airlines said passengers included a teenage track and field athlete heading to a competition.
The plane was preparing to land 700 feet above the ground when the suspect opened the emergency door.
A video of the incident showed a passenger’s hair fluttering as the wind blew in.
Nine were taken to a local hospital for testing, after which all were released. Witnesses said passengers screamed after the doors opened.
