Passenger opens plane emergency exit when looking for toilet on Sanya flight

A female passenger opened the plane emergency exit when the flight Sanya-Chongqing-Urumchi 3U8759 was taxiing on the runway of Sanya Phoenix International Airport on 28th March, according to a micro blog user named "honeyfish”.

The woman surnamed Wu is a tourist from Chongqing. According to Wu, who claimed she was a first-time-flier, she decided to relieve herself in consideration of the 2-hour flight. However, she couldn’t find the bathroom although she walked to the tail of the plane. Then she opened a door at the tail of the plane after 2 stewardesses told her the bathroom was just over there.

"I didn’t know what happened as I heard a loud noise when I opened the door. Then I was told it was emergency exit instead of a bathroom”, said Wu. She was taken away by the police for further investigation after that. She said she feels really sorry for what she did, however, she was unsatisfied with the stewardesses who didn’t stop her before she opened the emergency exit.

As the plane couldn’t take off as scheduled, all the passengers were forced to go back to the waiting room. At 13:36 p.m., 130 passengers boarded flight 3U8759 again while a remaining 19 passengers required ticket changing worrying about the safety of the plane.

The incident has triggered a heated discussion among netizens. Though some of the netizens complain on Wu’s carelessness, most of them think the flight crew should shoulder the majority of the responsibility.

The incident is still under investigation.