Matilda Omonaiye/
Chief Executive Officer of Educare, an education technology solution company, Alex Onyia, has shared the scary moment a female co-passenger on an Ibom Air flight to Enugu, yesterday, attempted to open the emergency exit mid-air.
Writing on his X handle, @winexviv, Onyia said it took the intervention of other passengers to restrain her.
He added that when the woman was questioned, she claimed she wanted to check if the door would open.
“I experienced a terrifying moment this morning while flying with Ibom Air to Enugu. The woman seated in front of me, near the emergency exit, attempted to open the door mid-flight. We quickly intervened to prevent a potential disaster. When questioned, she responded with a smile, claiming she wanted to see if the door would open,” Onyia wrote.
He advised airlines to be mindful of the passengers they allocate such critical seats to.
“Airlines should be careful on who they allow on those critical seats.”
His post has attracted wide-ranging reactions from netizens, with majority pointing out that it would have been impossible for her to open the emergency exit at cruising altitude or above 10,000 feet due to air pressure.
Others opined that there was no failsafe way for airlines to determine who is mentally unstable when allocating seats.
In her own reaction, popular human rights lawyer, Ms Ayo Obe, wrote, “That must truly have been terrifying, no matter how much your brain might tell you she could not succeed!
“But how can one tell who is mentally unstable when allocating seats? Before take off the cabin crew would have spoken to all in her row, yet she must have seemed normal.”
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