NEW DELHI – In a surprising turn of events, a passenger sitting next to the emergency door of the plane tried to open it while the flight was mid-air.
The attempt was foiled as another passenger next to him as well as the crew intervened on time though the passenger was hell-bent to open the door.
The incident happened aboard an IndiGo flight with 180 passengers on board; flight 6E-457 was headed from Guwahati to Agartala on Thursday.
The ‘defying’ passenger was later arrested though the flight attendants also rushed to stop him, but he continued his efforts.
When the incident happened, panic ensued on the flight, and fellow flyers dragged the man towards the seat in order to stop him.
As investigations began into the incident, the passenger was identified as Biswajit Debnath and a preliminary probe revealed that he was under the influence of narcotic tablets.
IndiGo Airlines also released a statement and declared the passenger unruly.
“As per the Standard Operating Procedure, the passenger was declared unruly by the crew and handed over to the local authorities on arrival. At no point was the safety of the flight compromised. We regret any inconvenience caused to the other passengers.”
There have been multiple incidents of Indian flyers going unruly on flights. Interestingly, the incident happened a day after a passenger onboard a Chennai-bound IndiGo flight attempted to open the emergency door of the airplane; the man was identified as Manikandan and was handed over to officials of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) on arrival at the Chennai airport.
There have been multiple incidents of sexual harassment onboard flights heading to or from India. In one of the most recent famous incidents, a male Indian was accused of peeing on an elderly woman.
Shankar Mishra was arrested and interrogated after he was found to have urinated on a woman in her 70s on board an Air India aircraft from New York to New Delhi.
The incident occurred back in November 2022 and the Indian flag carrier reportedly filed a case and recommended putting the man on the no-fly list for the incident.
It was reported that the intoxicated passenger exposed himself and urinated on an elderly woman who was sitting in the aisle seat.
The woman first informed the cabin crew, but they did not detain the disruptive passenger who, according to the complainant, unzipped his pants and relieved himself.
Sharing her ordeal, the woman said her clothes and bag were completely soaked in urine after which the air hostess took her to the toilet where she cleaned herself.
