A man who was having a panic attack tried to force open an emergency exit on a British Airways flight from London to Riyadh, Saudia Arabia on Monday night.
According to the Guardian, the man who was ‘clearly agitated’, tried ‘to pull the lever on the door at the back of the plane, an hour below the flight was due to land, while screaming “I want to get out” in broken English’.
A passenger, Ian McNally, was the first to try and intervene. When Dean Whyte, who was sitting nearby realised what was happening, he rushed down the aisle to help, followed by other passengers and an air steward. Whyte was flying to Riyadh to watch his brother, boxer Dillian Whyte, fight.
Whyte told the Guardian: ‘It was like something out of a movie. When I got there he was shouting “I want to get out” in broken English. I managed to grab him and was preparing to slam him hard if necessary but myself and the steward could see he wasn’t quite right in the head so I held him and tried to calm him down. Eventually, it worked.’
A British Airways flight attendant said, ‘I have never seen anything like that before,’ and confirmed that the incident had been reported to the authorities.
It’s impossible for an aircraft door to open during flight, the airline said. ‘Our cabin crew cared for a customer who suffered from a panic attack during the flight. We are sorry for any concern this caused our customers,’ a spokesperson said.
Image: British Airways
