Police arrested a 33-year-old man suspected of opening the door, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported. Police said the man confessed to opening the door but did not say why he did so.
South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation said in a statement that anyone who violates the Aviation Safety Law – actions involving passengers using doors, exits or equipment inside plane – could be prosecuted and sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
“I thought the plane was going to explode. … It looked like the passengers next to the open door were fainting,” a passenger told Yonhap.
In a video that appears to have been captured by a passenger and shared widely on social media and distributed by Reuters, wind whips through the plane’s cabin, slamming passengers and flapping unsecured fabric.
Flight attendants tried but failed to arrest the man, Yonhap reported. “The flight attendants screamed for help to the male passengers and people all around clung to him and pulled him on board,” a witness told the news agency.
The plane was carrying 200 people, including 194 passengers, South Korean media reported.
The airline’s office at Daegu International could not immediately be reached for comment.