A flight from Manchester Airport set to fly out to Pakistan was recently delayed for hours following a mishap on board.
A passenger on the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight reportedly mistook the emergency exit of the plane for the bathroom door. After she opened the door, the emergency chute was deployed, prompting the flight to be delayed as engineers were called onto the 737-340.
There were 37 other passengers who had also boarded the plane at this time, all of which had to disembark during which "the exit slide deployed automatically," PIA said in a statement.
The flight was due to leave at 9:20 pm on Friday evening, but ended up not departing until 5 am the following morning. According to The Express Tribune, the incident aboard the PK-702 flight to Islamabad was due to a lack of airline staff.
A spokesperson for Manchester Airport confirmed that the flight was delayed at Terminal 2, while others confirmed the plane had not yet reached the runway.
Mashood Tajwar, A Pakistan International Airlines spokesman, said that the incident is currently being investigated. "The plane was parked on the runway when the airbag chute opened, so there was no threat of any kind," he added.
This isn't the only instance in which the emergency chute has been deployed while the plane is at rest. In May, an elderly passenger was arrested and detained in the Chinese province of Shandong for endangering the safety of an aircraft after he tried to open an emergency exit.
The passenger allegedly opened the door closest to his seat after the flight landed, in an attempt to beat the queue to disembark.
