Chinese passengers yank open moving plane's emergency doors after row with pilot

Passengers on a flight to Beijing yanked opened three emergency exit doors just moments before take-off after becoming irritated at delays caused by snow.

The plane was taxiing in preparation for take-off when the angry passengers took action, following a row with one of the pilots.

Police investigated 25 people over the incident on the China Eastern Airlines flight, whose leg from Kunming in Yunnan province to Beijing was subsequently cancelled. Two were later locked up for 15 days' "administrative detention", police said.

The incident comes less than a month after a Chinese passenger made headlines worldwide when he pulled open an emergency door just before a plane was due to take off, to "get some fresh air".

Snow and rain had caused a three-hour delay to the first leg of flight MU2036, which departed from Dhaka in Bangladesh for Kunming, on Friday night.

Some of the passengers who were continuing to Beijing became annoyed after learning the second leg would also be delayed for more than two hours, from 8.45pm to around 11pm, the China News Service reported.

Some initially refused to reboard the plane and demanded compensation, but were talked around and all had boarded by 1.40am.

However, they became unruly and used "strong language" when airport staff took more than an hour to clear snow off the aircraft. When the flight began taxiing after being cleared for take-off at 3.17am - almost seven hours behind schedule - they pulled open opened three emergency exits, forcing pilots to stop the plane and return to the boarding gate.

Some reports cited a Weibo user's post - subsequently removed - that said a fiery dialogue between the pilot and passengers had made them even angrier.

According to the post, air conditioning had been turned off at about 3am, and some passengers had found it hard to breathe. They asked to get off the plane for fresh air, but the crew members refused.

The post said the pilot then shouted: "Are you going to die soon? If not, just wait."

DON'T MISS: Chinese passenger opens emergency exit ‘to get some fresh air’ as plane prepares for take-off

The plane began to move soon after, catching some passengers off guard and causing them to fall over, it said.

Xinhua said the event had drawn widespread attention on Chinese social media.

"After several hours' waiting, did the airline take some measures to pacify the passengers?" said Fan Kai, editor of an aviation magazine, on his microblog, according to Xinhua.

But more believed that the method passengers used was not appropriate, the news agency reported. "It is very dangerous to fiddle with emergency doors," said Li Chengwei, a lawyer with the Yingke law firm in Kunming. "Passengers could protect their own rights, but the right shouldn't be abused at the expense of others' safety."

Reports by state media said all crew members acted according to procedures and did not use unsuitable language.

A passenger surnamed Zhou and a tour guide named Li were placed under a 15-day "administrative detention" for opening the doors and inciting passengers with false information.