A Canadian man was detained by police after he opened an emergency door on a Thai Airways International (THAI) flight to Bangkok, leading to the deployment of an inflatable emergency slide.
The incident occurred as the aircraft was taxiing to the runway for takeoff from Chiang Mai airport on a Wednesday evening.
Witnesses reported that just before the flight was scheduled to depart at 9:05pm, the 40-year-old man, whose identity has not been disclosed, quickly opened a front emergency door, causing the emergency slide to deploy.
The Airbus A320, operating as flight TG121 from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, was forced to come to a stop. The man was quickly restrained by another passenger and crew members after he claimed he thought he was under threat of attack.
As a result, passengers were escorted back to the terminal and later transferred to a different aircraft. The delayed flight eventually departed for Bangkok in the early hours at 12:34 am.
Ronnakorn Chalermsanyakorn, the general manager of Chiang Mai airport, stated the following day that THAI technicians had to remove the inflated slide.
The plane was moved to a parking area, and the runway that had been blocked was reopened by 10:50pm that Wednesday, according to Mr. Ronnakorn.
He also noted that the incident affected 2,296 passengers on 13 flights, including three departures, eight arrivals that were forced to delay landing by circling the airport, and two flights that were diverted to other airports.
THAI, the country’s flagship airline, confirmed in a statement on Thursday morning that everyone involved in the incident was safe.
