Accidentally touched door: Annamalai on emergency door unlock row

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai, who was onboard with BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on an IndiGo flight when the accidental opening of the emergency exit occurred stated that Tejasvi's hand accidentally touched the door and that he wrote an incident report and apologized to passengers.

He told to ANI, "Tejasvi Surya was attending an event in Tiruchy. He was flying from Chennai to Tiruchy and we were on the same flight. It was a small plane. There was a storm on the previous day and on that day as well. Due to which, the 6:00 am flight got cancelled and the 10:00 am flight also got delayed by 1 hour. We were sitting near the emergency exit door. It is a small plane, we all might have travelled. It was a congested space, especially in the front place. I was reading a book and Tejasvi Surya was engaged with the public taking selfies. He was also talking to persons sitting in the front."

"In the process, his hand might have accidentally touched the door. It got slightly disturbed from its position. He told me that we should call the Air hostess. We called the Air hostess and explain the situation. The Air hostess explained the pilot. Then, the pilot called the engineer. The engineer tried pushing the door to its position. It didn't get into the position, it got locked. The engineer opened the door entirely and refixed it. It was a five-minute process. But, the engineer said that it has to go through a process, the cabin has to be pressurised again, and all the passengers have to deboard. On the flight, many passengers were there from walks of life including a DMK spokesperson. We were outside the plane and Tejasvi Surya was talking to the public"

"At the same time, IndiGo asked Tejasvi Surya to write an incident report form. He wrote it and apologized to the passengers for the inconvenience caused," he added.

The incident happened on December 10 on the IndiGo 6E flight 6E-7339, traveling from Chennai to Trivandrum. The flight took off after pressurisation checks soon after, said an official.

On Tuesday, the airline released a statement that read, “A passenger travelling on Flight 6E 7339 from Chennai to Tiruchirapalli on Dec 10, 2022, accidentally opened the emergency exit during the boarding process. The passenger immediately apologised for the action. As per SOPs, the incident was logged and the aircraft underwent mandatory engineering checks, which led to a delay in the flight’s departure."

A senior DGCA official also said, "The event was duly reported. It appears that by mistake, the RH emergency exit got opened by a passenger while the Aircraft was on ground. The crew took note and resultantly, all appropriate Airworthiness action such as reinstalling of door, pressurization check etc were carried out before the release of the Aircraft for departure. No safety was compromised".

Earlier, Karnataka Congress on Wednesday took a dig at Tejasvi Surya for allegedly unlocking the flight emergency door onboard and said that he always behaves like a child.

(With inputs from IANS)