A passenger who set next to a man who opened a commercial jet door mid-flight says he feared for his life as wind rushed into the plane.
The passenger, in his 30s, left others on the Asiana Airlines plane terrified when he opened the door as the aircraft was coming in to land in Daegu, South Korea, on Friday afternoon.
The man was sitting in the emergency seat when he yanked the door open just two to three minutes before landing in the city 150 miles south of Seoul.
South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said the passenger, who was arrested on arrival, told police officials that he "wanted to get off the plane quickly".
Fellow passenger Lee Yoon-Joon claimed that he physically restrained the man who allegedly opened the exit with his bare hands, wondering to himself "am I going to die?" as he did so, Yonhap reported.
In a video of the terrifying incident which has gone viral, Lee can be seen wearing red trousers and is clearly in distress as air rushes past his face, it was reported.
Lee said it was like being in a disaster movie and that he had got an uneasy feeling from the passenger sitting next to him throughout the flight, partly due to his intense, long periods of eye contact.
A different 44-year-old passenger told Yonhap: "It was chaos with people close to the door appearing to faint one by one and flight attendants calling out for doctors on board through broadcasting.
"I thought the plane was blowing up. I thought I was going to die like this."
Children began shaking with fear and crying when the door was opened, with one woman saying they " quivered and cried in panic."
Captain Sully Sullenberger, a famed pilot who safely landed a failing US Airways plane on the Hudson River in New York, told ABC News that the 160mph speed the aircraft was going at when the door was opened would've felt like a category five hurricane.
The door could only be opened because the plane was coming into land, meaning the air pressure was far lower than it would've been at a cruising altitude.
Twelve people were taken to hospital with minor injuries following the incident including breathing and panic issues, with all having since been released.
The man who allegedly opened the door was stressed and not "in a normal state" after recently losing his job, reports the Independent.
A local police officer told reporters: "He is mentally struggling right now and losing his footing. We could not investigate him properly due to his state."
Asiana Airlines has decided not to sell seats next to the emergency exit of the Airbus A321-200 - the model on which the accident occurred - for a unknown period of time.
This is because the person in that seat can touch the emergency door handle without unbuckling their seatbelt, making it hard for staff to stop them.
An official from the airline industry told the BBC said: "Since the structure allows passengers sitting next to the emergency exit to easily open the door at any time when the air pressure is low, the possibility of the same situation repeating cannot be ruled out."
Jeong Yoon-sik, former captain of Asiana Airlines, told JoongAng: “In the long term, it is desirable to take measures to strengthen safety, such as restricting the sale of exit seats or placing additional crew members near emergency exits, and remodelling work on emergency exits in the long term..
"In the event of an open door accident like this, passengers are advised to fasten their seat belts."
Paul Tizzard, an aviation expert who has helped more than 30,000 people conquer their fears of flying through a course in partnership with Virgin Atlantic, explained why the emergency door can't be opened during most points of a flight.
He told The Mirror: "Once you get to altitude and it's pressurised, it locks in place as it's tilted. It has ridiculously strong pins that are held shut by the pressure. If you jumped up and down on the handle you'd just break it."
Paul said no human was capable of opening the door with the pressure as high as it is when the plane is in the air. It's a different story when the plane is on the runway, however.
"You can open it on the ground. You will never see a door without someone by it on the ground," he said. "When the doors are armed for take off, that door is ready to be a slide or a raft for an emergency."
