The door of an Asiana Airlines jet opened as it was coming in to land in Daegu, South Korea, on Friday afternoon, leaving wind whipping through the plane’s cabin as terrified passengers gripped their armrests. When arrested the passenger said he felt the flight was taking longer than it should as he was suffocated and uncomfortable inside the cabin.

The male passenger reportedly opened an emergency exit on an Asiana Airlines flight in mid-air.

Flight OZ8124, an Airbus A321-200 jet, had taken off from Jeju Island on Friday about 11:45 local time (03:45 GMT).

An airline official said a man in his 30s who was sitting at the emergency seat opened the door when the aircraft was about 700 feet (213 meters) above the ground and about two to three minutes from landing in the city 150 miles (240 kilometers) south of Seoul. All 194 passengers survived the flight, which landed safely but with its door still open at Daegu International Airport on Friday.

Local police said a man had been arrested in connection with the incident.

Flight attendants had not been able to stop him because the plane was about to land, witnesses recounted to local media.

They said the man had also tried to jump out of the plane after opening the door.

Passengers have described the panic on board.

“It was chaos with people close to the door appearing to faint one by one and flight attendants calling out for doctors on board through broadcasting,” one 44-year-old passenger told Yonhap.

“I thought the plane was blowing up. I thought I was going to die like this,” he added.

Several school age children had also been on board, on their way to a weekend sporting event.

The mother of one of the students told Yonhap: “The children were shaking, crying, and frightened.”

South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement Friday that police and the ministry were investigating an individual over violation of aviation law.

Any person who contravenes the Aviation Security Act, which includes passengers operating doors, exits, or equipment inside an aircraft, could be prosecuted and sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, the statement said.

The ministry also said that it had dispatched an aviation safety supervisor to the site to check whether there was an abnormality in aircraft maintenance.

A total of 200 people were on board, including 194 passengers, according to Asiana Airlines.

According to the Daegu Fire Department, 12 people suffered minor injuries from hyperventilation and nine of them have been sent to hospitals in Daegu.

The aircraft was identified on the Flightradar 24 tracking website as an Airbus 321.

The jet was on a flight from Jeju island, off South Korea’s southern coast, to Daegu.

Aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas of Airline Ratings described the incident as “very bizarre.”

Thomas noted that the landing speed of an A321 is about 150 knots (172 mph), meaning winds of that speed are passing the aircraft. The door, behind the wing of the aircraft, opened into that airstream, he said.

“It seems implausible that the door could be opened in the first place and then against the airstream technically impossible, but somehow or another it has happened,” Thomas said.

But Asiana Airlines explained that, “the airplane is automatically set to adjust the pressure of the cabin according to the altitude of the aircraft. When the aircraft is high up in the air, it is impossible to open the door but when the altitude is low and close to landing, the door can be opened.”

Why I opened airplane door midair —passenger

A man who opened an emergency exit on an Asiana Airlines flight in mid-air felt explained that he opened the door because he was “suffocated” and wanted to get off quickly.

The passenger was taken in by Daegu police for questioning and told officers he had been “under stress after losing a job recently”.

“He felt the flight was taking longer than it should have been and felt suffocated inside the cabin,” a Daegu police detective told AFP.

“He wanted out quickly”.

The passenger faces up to 10 years in prison for violating aviation safety laws.

A video clip shot by a nearby passenger showed wind ripping through the open door, with fabric seat-backs and passengers’ hair flapping wildly as some people shouted in surprise.

Experts say South Korea’s aviation industry has a solid safety record.