Mid-air panic as ‘delusional’ passenger tries to kick open emergency door
Passengers on a flight to Sydney had to wrestle a man who tried to force open an emergency aircraft door mid-flight.
They had to put him in a headlock, pin him to the ground and tie his wrists with cable ties when he tried to kick open the emergency door on the Vietnam Airlines flight from Ho Chi Minh City on Monday.
A 27-year-old from Sydney is due to appear in court next month.
The man, who passengers described as ‘high’ and ‘delusional’ was shouting that he had been kidnapped and his life was in danger.
He was arrested on arrival at Sydney airport.
The incident happened on flight VN773 a few hours after take-off.
New Zealander Mark Ansley told New Zealand broadcaster TVNZ he was sleeping when he was woken by screaming and saw a man trying to kick open the exit door by the first exit row.
Ansley was one of the passengers who managed to restrain the man and tie him to a seat for the rest of the flight.
"A cable tie was handed to me and I couldn’t get it around his hands because he was fighting too much, so that’s why I decided to stun him or knock him out, which didn’t work," he said.
“But eventually I did stun him enough to stop him struggling. It was very scary, I was really shaken."
The airline is reportedly investigating the incident.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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