A man was taken into custody by police after airport officials say he opened an Aeromexico plane’s emergency exit door and walked out onto the wing on a Central America bound flight late last week. Passengers claim it because they were delayed for hours and needed help.
The Mexico City International Airport acknowledged in a statement the wild display took place Thursday morning while the plane was on the ground awaiting takeoff to Guatemala.
According to the airport’s statement posted on social media, the man “posed on a wing and re-entered the cabin, without any harm to anyone … or the aircraft.”
Due to international security regulations, the airport reported the man was “put at the disposal of the authorities.”
USA TODAY has reached out to Aeromexico.
‘Without ventilation and without water’
According to a post circulating on social media, passengers on board claimed they were kept on the tarmac for hours without proper ventilation or water during a flight delay.
“The delay and lack of air created conditions that endangered the health of the passengers. He saved our lives,” passengers wrote in a letter translated from Spanish.
“The emergency exit was opened out of desperation after leaving us locked in for almost 4 hours without ventilation and without water,” one person, who claimed to be on board, wrote in a caption on X with a handwritten photo of a letter signed by passengers.
The same passenger wrote the plane’s doors were closed, passengers were “without information” and there were “elderly ladies on the verge of fainting.”
According to an incident report filed with airport officials, the Associated Press reported, passengers “were unhappy and one of them opened the emergency door and stepped out on the wing. This event required the plane to be changed.”
At least 77 passengers onboard flight AM672, the AP reported, signed the statement circulating online.
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Contributing: The Associated Press
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.
