Mumbai: Passenger opens plane's emergency chute, 1 hurt
Flight was stationary on runway, readying for take off.
MUMBAI: A 31-year-old city resident was arrested on Friday after he allegedly opened the emergency exit of the Chandigarh-bound Indigo flight (6E 4134) while it was stationary at the Mumbai airport, sparking off a security scare.
Akshay Mohan, 31, a professional movie editor and a resident of Juhu Tara Road, was supposed to fly to his hometown Chandigarh with his brother Ashish Mohan.
Mr Ashish claims that Mohan had been behaving “weird” since Friday morning but could not possibly be a security threat. Officials of the airport police station are interrogating the brothers. This is the second such incident in the last three years.
The incident took place on Friday morning when shortly after boarding was complete on flight 6E 4134. While the aircraft was stationary and before it could push back for taxiing, Akshay, who was seated on 12C, suddenly opened the emergency exit door, which automatically inflated the evacuation slide.
As soon as the cabin crew on board saw this, the Captain-in-Command was alerted. In this process, a co-passenger seated on 12A received bruises.
“Taking a precautionary measure, the Captain immediately informed the ground staff of the situation on board and instructed the team to arrange for medical assistance and other necessary action,” said the IndiGo’s spokesperson.
Akshay was handed over to the security staff and the CISF deployed at Mumbai airport. The IndiGo spokesperson said that the airline had filed a FIR against Akshay. Officials said Mr Ashish claimed Akshay to be of unsound mind, but there was no evidence with them to prove the same.