A flight carrying more than 200 people from Bali, Indonesia, to Melbourne, Australia, was forced to turn around after a passenger tried to force the opening of a plane door while the aircraft flew over the Indian Ocean, the airline Jettar said in a statement on Tuesday.
“We had an aircraft returning to Denpasar (Bali airport) last night after a disruptive passenger tried to open one of the aircraft doors and was abusive with our crew,” the airline said on the case on Monday night (31).
The passenger was removed from the aircraft by local authorities in Bali, he added.
According to a video circulating on social networks, a woman on the back of the aircraft managed to lift the door handle before a signal alerted the crew, the captain said by the plane’s speakers.
Folightradar24 flight tracking site data showed that the plane was turning over the Indian Ocean about an hour after the flight.
Jetstar did not say exactly how many passengers and crew were on the plane traveling from Bali to Melbourne.
“The safety and well-being of our customers and crew are our greatest priority and we thank them for the way they responded to the situation,” the airline said in its statement.
“This kind of unacceptable behavior will never be tolerated on our flights,” he added.
Cases have been reported in the past, including people triggering emergency exits and sliding down a withdrawal slide, beating and biting flight attendants, as well as punches on the flight crew, forcing the aircraft to divert from its intended destination.
Last year, a passenger was charged at a US Federal Court after forcing the opening of a plane door and injuring a commissioner in the middle of the flight, taking other passengers on the Milwaukee American Airlines flight to Dallas to arrest him with tape.
In 2023, a man who opened the emergency door of an Asiana Airlines plane shortly before landing. He told police that he was suffocated and wanted to get off the plane quickly. The airline responded by interrupting the sale of seats near emergency exits in Airbus A321.
