‘Open Door, Let Me Out’: Senior Citizen Gets Panic Attack on Newark-Mumbai Flight, Abuses Crew

Passengers have said the man abused the crew for several hours and could only be calmed down after doctors sedated him.

New Delhi: Hours after a Mumbai-bound Air India flight took off from Newark, a passenger experienced a panic attack on board on Wednesday. The senior citizen, who was traveling in business class with his wife, suddenly started shouting and yelling at the crew.

Passengers have said the man abused the crew for several hours and could only be calmed down after doctors sedated him. A Times of India report said that after failed attempts by crew members and co-passengers to pacify him for several hours, two doctors on board the flight came to his rescue and calmed him down by administering sedatives.

One of the passengers said the man was asking the crew to open the door and let him out.
Pravin Tonsekar, a co-passenger on board the flight said the man was “verbally abusive” and “tried to strangle” his wife. He said the man was about 6 foot tall and appeared physically fit.

“He wanted to disembark. He was screaming, telling the crew to open the door and let him out. He would scream, stop, open the door’ and then at another time hurl abuse and expletives at the crew,” Tonsekar told TOI.

The flight landed in Mumbai on Thursday afternoon.

Air India’s Delhi-Sydney flight encounter turbulence; 7 passengers suffer ‘minor sprain’

Seven passengers onboard an Air India flight from Delhi to Sydney suffered a “minor sprain” due to severe turbulence, and the plane landed safely in the Australian city on Wednesday, according to officials.

The B787-800 aircraft VT-ANY operating flight AI-302, which had taken off from the national capital on Tuesday, encountered severe turbulence mid-air.

A senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that no hospitalisation was required.

“During flight seven passengers reported minor sprain. Cabin crew provided the first aid with the assistance of a doctor and a Nurse travelling as passengers, using an onboard first aid kit,” the official said.

There were 224 passengers onboard the aircraft.