Passengers try to force the plane door to fly after opening in the Indian Ocean
A plane from Bali, Indonesia to Melbourne, Australia, carrying more than 200 people was forced to turn around after a passenger tried to force the plane door to pass through the Indian Ocean, low-cost airline said in a statement Tuesday.
“Last night, a destructive passenger tried to open an airplane door and abused our crew, and we returned to Bali’s Airport last night,” the airline said of the incident on Monday night, March 31.
It added that local authorities in Bali evacuated passengers from the plane.
The captain said on the plane’s speaker that a woman behind the plane managed to lift the handle of the door before warning the crew.
Data from Flighttradar24 on the flight tracking site showed that the plane turned across the Indian Ocean after about an hour of flight.
Jetstar didn’t say exactly how many passengers and crew there were on the plane from Bali to Melbourne.
“The safety and welfare of our customers and staff is our top priority and we appreciate their response to the situation,” the airline said in a statement.
“This unacceptable behavior will never be tolerated on our flights.”
Unruly passenger incidents have been reported in the past, including passengers deploying emergency exits, sliding down evacuation slides, hitting and biting flight attendants, and throwing punches at the pilots, forcing the plane to move from their scheduled destinations. But aviation authorities are cutting and implementing stricter actions.
Last year, a passenger was indicted in federal court after forcing the plane door to open and injured in flight, prompting his companions to fly from Milwaukee to Dallas, American Airlines, to expel his passengers.
In 2023, a man told police he felt suffocated and wanted to get off the plane quickly, and then opened the emergency door of an Air Asia plane. The airline’s response was to stop selling seats near the emergency exit on the Airbus A321S.
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