News

Passenger trapped inside toilet for duration of harrowing flight

Passenger trapped inside toilet for duration of harrowing flight

Passenger trapped inside toilet for duration of harrowing flight

iStockphoto by Getty Images

There is nothing worse than getting locked inside a toilet, well perhaps only if this were to happen when you're thousands of feet in the air...

That's exactly what happened to one unlucky passenger in India who was trapped inside a plane lavatory mid-flight due to a door malfunction.

The man was travelling on a Spicejet flight from Mumbai to Bengaluru on Wednesday when he needed to go to the loo once the plane was airborne.

But things took a turn when the man ended up struck inside the restroom and had to stay there for the remainder of the journey after the attempts to unlock the door from the outside by the cabin crew failed.

It was only when the plane landed at Bengaluru airport that the passenger was able to be freed from the confined bathroom thanks to technicians on the ground.

SpiceJet has since released a statement to address the incident that occurred on one of their flights.

"On 16 January, a passenger unfortunately got stuck inside the lavatory for about an hour on SpiceJet flight operating from Mumbai to Bengaluru, while the aircraft was airborne due to a malfunction in the door lock," the airlines said.

"Throughout the journey, our crew provided assistance and guidance to the passenger. Upon arrival, an engineer opened the lavatory door, and the passenger received immediate medical support," it added.

There was reportedly communication between the cabin crew and the trapped passenger while he remained trapped inside the toilet as they were able to pass a note underneath the door.

In the note, the crew informed the man that they had tried their best to open the door but were unable to, so urged him to "not panic" and reassured him that they were "landing in few mins".

They also instructed him to "please close the commode lid and sit on it and secure yourself. As soon as the main door is open engineer will come."

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The Conversation (0)