The passenger seated next to the man on a South Korean flight who opened the emergency exit of the plane while it was airborne said he thought he was going to die during the nightmarish, caught-on-video ordeal.
Lee Yoon-Joon described the frightening moment he had to physically restrain the passenger sitting next to him aboard an Asiana Airlines flight headed to Daegu, South Korea on Saturday.
“Frankly speaking, I thought ‘Am I going to die?'” Lee told Yonhap News Agency, according to a translation from ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
After realizing the man sitting next to him was holding the emergency exit door open, Lee said he grabbed him with his “bare hands.”
Once the door was open, Lee said it became difficult to breathe.
Shocking footage of the incident has gone viral online. Video clips show Lee wearing red pants, clearly in distress as air frantically whips around his face.
Before the incident, Lee says he got an uneasy feeling from the passenger sitting next to him.
The suspect, who told cops he only opened the door because he was “uncomfortable” and “wanted to get off the plane quickly,” had apparently been making strange and prolonged eye contact with other passengers, Lee said.
The suspect told police he was stressed after recently losing his job.
The 33-year-old flier was arrested Sunday for violating aviation security law, a charge that carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
The Asiana Airlines Airbus A321-200 was carrying approximately 200 people for an hourlong flight from the South Korean island of Jeju to Daegu on Friday when the terrifying incident occurred. Its passengers included teenage track-and-field athletes who were en route to a competition, Asiana Airlines said.
The plane was 700 feet above the ground and about to begin preparing for its landing when the suspect opened the emergency door.
Video of the incident showed passengers’ hair whipping around as the wind rushed in.
Nine people were taken to a local hospital for examination, and all were later released. Witnesses described passengers crying and screaming after the door was opened.
