Passenger opens plane door mid-air

A passenger opened an emergency exit on an Asiana Airlines flight as it was preparing to land yesterday, the carrier told AFP, adding that the plane landed safely but several people were hospitalised.

The plane was carrying nearly 200 passengers as it approached the runway at Daegu International Airport in South Korea, about 240 kilometres (149 miles) southeast of Seoul, on a domestic flight.

When the plane was around 200 meters (650 feet) above the ground, a passenger sitting near the emergency exit "opened the door manually by touching the lever", the carrier's representative told AFP.

The incident caused some passengers to have breathing difficulties, and several people were taken to a hospital after the landing, Asiana said.

Daegu police told AFP that they had taken in a man in his 30s for questioning over the incident.