A passenger was left ‘dazed’ after spending the whole flight stuck inside a tiny lavatory (Picture: X/fl360aero)
A man endured every claustrophobia sufferer’s worst nightmare after he got trapped inside a plane toilet for the entire flight.
The 37-year-old was travelling on board a SpiceJet flight from Mumbai to Bengaluru City in India when he went to use the tiny lavatory shortly after takeoff.
But he was not able to open the door to leave due to a ‘malfunction in the lock’ and was stuck inside for the whole duration of the journey.
He was forced to cling on for one hour and 45 minutes and was not rescued until after the plane arrived at its destination in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
‘I was traumatised, dazed and injured as I was thrown around inside the toilet as the plane landed,’ the man who did not want to be named told the Times of India.
After discovering he was trapped inside, the cabin crew tried to unlock the door from outside but were unable to.
The man, from Koramangala, said: ‘I managed to draw the attention of the crew who tried to open the door. It was getting scarier every minute.’
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
Cabin crew passed a note under the door to the man urging him not to panic (Picture: X/iam_amangulati)
Airline staff then reportedly passed a note under the door to him, which read: ‘Sir, we tried our best to open the door, however we could not open.
‘Do not panic, we are landing in few mins, so please close the commode lid and sit on it and secure yourself. As soon as the main door is open, engineer will come. Do not panic.’
Technicians finally arrived after the plane landed and managed to break him out, but the incident left the man in a state of shock.
He said: ‘During landing, I was thrown around and suffered injuries. It took 20 minutes for someone to start breaking open the door.’
The passenger filmed himself clinging on and footage showed the broken handle (Picture: X/fl360aero)
‘The poor man flew from Mumbai to Bengaluru inside the toilet and, shockingly, landed trapped inside the tiny lavatory,’ an unnamed official at Bengaluru airport added.
SpiceJet said it has apologised to the passenger and that he will be issued a full refund.
A spokesman for the airline said: ‘On 16 January, a passenger unfortunately got stuck inside the lavatory for about an hour on a SpiceJet flight operating from Mumbai to Bengaluru, while the aircraft was airborne due to a malfunction in the door lock.
‘Throughout the journey, our crew provided assistance and guidance to the passenger.
‘Upon arrival, an engineer opened the lavatory door, and the passenger received immediate medical support.’
He held on but was ‘dazed’ after the plane landed having been thrown around the cubicle (Picture: X/fl360aero)
The handle was busted (Picture: X/fl360aero)
But the man claims he received ‘no medical help’ after he was freed from the loo.
‘When I came out, I had bruises, and my vision was blurred for a while,’ he added. ‘I got a bottle of water and a barrage of apologies from SpiceJet.’
It comes as India’s aviation industry has been plunged into chaos by flight cancellations and delays.
Things were worsened by a cold wave which triggered dense fog in northern India, causing flights to be grounded for hours.
Elsewhere, two planes collided on the runway in Japan this week and an easyJet aircraft skidded off an icy runway in Iceland.
A pilot also had to make an emergency landing after the cockpit window cracked, just days after an Alaska Airlines window completely blew out in mid air.
Earlier this month, a Jet2 passenger was found dead in a plane toilet.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Worst, worst nightmare.