Man who tried to open plane's emergency door mid-air has depression, wanted to jump: Police

Agartala, September 22

The man who tried to open an emergency door of a Guwahati-Agartala Indigo flight mid-air was suffering from depression and wanted to jump from the plane, police said on Friday.

Biswajit Debath (41), hailing from West Tripura’s Jirania, has been arrested for “endangering the lives of hundreds of passengers” and getting into a scuffle with crew members on board, Officer in Charge of Airport Police Station at Agartala Abhijit Mandal told PTI.

He would be produced before a court on Friday, Mandal said.

“Biswajit has confessed that he suffers from depression and was trying to jump from the flight by opening the emergency door mid-air,” the police officer said.

Further investigation is under way, Mandal added.

The man tried to open the emergency door around 1pm on Thursday, when the plane was flying 15 miles from the runway of Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport here, an official had said.

The crew members and other passengers intervened and resisted the attempt, with the flight landing safely at Agartala, the Airports Authority of India official said.