An unruly passenger on a Copa Airlines flight tried to open the emergency door mid-flight and was beaten and restrained by other passengers. according to New York Post, The incident occurred on a flight from Brazil to Panama on Tuesday. The flight went as planned until 30 minutes before landing, when a man took a plastic knife from a food tray and rushed to the back of the plane and tried to take a flight attendant hostage in order to open the plane door.
A video of the incident shared on Weibo site Another video showed authorities boarding the plane and taking away the man in handcuffs with a bloodied face.
Video – On the Brasilia-Panama flight, passengers try to open the door; the incident occurred on Tuesday morning (5), minutes before the plane landed in Panama City. The passenger was detained by authorities. pic.twitter.com/gDTyB5fwg3
— Nelson Carlos dos Santos Belchiol (@NelsonCarlosd15) November 5, 2024
according to postalPhotojournalist Cristiano Carvalho witnessed the man trying to open the hatch 30 minutes before landing. “One of the flight attendants started screaming and the other flight attendant tried to stop him but couldn’t because he was too strong,” he said.
Mr Carvalho recalled: “After receiving the warning, he went through the rear emergency door and then he started walking forward and tried to open the door.”
The 51-year-old passenger recalled that passengers rushed to the rescue and fought with the man to prevent him from opening the plane’s emergency door. He said that despite initially struggling due to the man’s physical strength, other passengers eventually managed to restrain the man after beating him to a bloody pulp.
“They beat him many times until he was almost unconscious,” Mr. Carvalho described.
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Copa Airlines claimed in a statement that after landing in Panama, “national security teams entered the aircraft and removed the passenger and brought him to the judicial authorities”.
The airline praised crew and passengers for working together to stop the unruly passenger from opening the plane door. An airline spokesperson said: “The crew acted quickly and, with the assistance of a number of passengers, applied the necessary safety protocols to control the situation until landing in Panama. Due to the professionalism of the crew, the safety of the flight and passengers was protected .
Meanwhile, just days before this incident, an American man violently attacked a deaf and non-speaking passenger on a United Airlines flight, leaving the cabin covered in blood. Authorities identified the suspect as 44-year-old Everett Chal Nelson. He was charged with one count of assault, battery and mayhem within the jurisdiction of a U.S. special aircraft. If convicted, he could face up to a year in prison.
