World4 min(s) read
Published 13:52 13 Aug 2026 GMT
A man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly trying to wrench open a plane's emergency exit at 30,000 feet while on his way home to see his newborn child.
Jamsheer Athanikkal, 36, was on a Batik Air flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Kochi, India, on August 7 when he allegedly smashed the exit window panel, tried to force the door open, and threatened passengers and crew who intervened.
When police asked him why, he gave an answer that is somehow both chilling and baffling at the same time.
"He said he felt like doing so at that moment," an officer told the Indian Express.
"It was not like he had lost his job."
Athanikkal was seated in 12A.
According to police, the incident began around 9:30pm and lasted until roughly 11.00pm.
Without any apparent provocation, he began trying to pry open the emergency exit door while the aircraft was cruising at altitude.
He smashed the window panel in the process.
Footage posted on social media afterwards showed visible scratches across the exit window and broken sections of the plane's plastic interior.
When passengers and cabin crew stepped in to stop him, he allegedly turned on them, threatening those who tried to intervene.
They eventually managed to overpower him and bind his hands with cable ties.
In the footage, Athanikkal can be seen sitting restrained and surrounded by crew members while other passengers look on.
After the plane landed at Kochi Airport, Athanikkal was taken into custody. He told officers two things.
First, that he was coming home to see his newborn baby.
Second, that he had 'felt like dying while travelling on the flight'.
A police spokesperson confirmed there was nothing to suggest a specific trigger.
"He said he felt like doing so at that moment," the officer said.
He had not lost his job. He was not under the influence. There was no altercation with another passenger beforehand.
Athanikkal works in the hospitality sector in Malaysia. His mental health is expected to be assessed as part of the investigation.
He was initially arrested on charges of criminal intimidation, failure to follow official safety directions, and risking public safety.
Police then added an attempted murder charge under Section 109 of India's Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison and a fine.
An officer explained the escalation: "As the act of the accused could have endangered the lives of the co-passengers, we have evoked an attempt to murder charge against him. He has to be questioned in detail as part of the probe."
Almost certainly not.
At cruising altitude, the difference in air pressure between the inside and outside of an aircraft makes it physically impossible to open an emergency exit.
The door is effectively sealed shut by the pressure differential, which at 30,000 feet would require thousands of pounds of force to overcome.
That does not mean the attempt was harmless - in fact, opening any window or door on board can be very dangerous.
The damage to the window panel and the surrounding interior was real.
The panic among the 200-odd passengers on board was real.
If the aircraft had been at a lower altitude, the situation could have been very different.
In 2023, a man on an Asiana Airlines flight in South Korea managed to open an emergency exit door at just 700 feet while the plane was preparing to land.
Air blasted into the cabin, 12 people were injured, and footage showed passengers' hair being whipped sideways by the force.
He told police he 'felt suffocated' and wanted to get off quickly. He was sentenced to prison.
Athanikkal remains in custody. Police say a detailed interrogation is ongoing and further charges may follow depending on what the investigation turns up.
He was on his way to see a baby he had not yet met.
Instead, he is in a police cell facing up to a decade in prison because, by his own account, he felt like opening a door that would have killed everyone on the plane if it had actually worked.
