LUCKY TO BE ALIVE: PASSENGERS IN PLANE IN FLIGHT WITH OPEN DOOR RETURNED TO DEPATURE AIRPORT IN PHILIPPINES

JIN AIRLINES

Reports have it that a flight operated a Korean Air subsidiary, Jin Air with 163 passengers had to make an emergency turnaround to the Cebu airport in the Philippines after it was discovered about 40 minutes into the flight that one of its doors was not fully shut.

A spokesman of the low cost Jin Air reported that the flight which departed the Philippines on Sunday with a planned arrival destination in Busan, South Korea had to truncate its flight upon the discovery of an inflight staff of an incompletely shut plane door and return to the Cebu airport where it took off from.

The spokesman said that the staff was alerted by a noise coming from a gap in the door and immediately informed the pilot who decided to make the emergency return. He said at the time of the discovery the Boeing 737-800 plane was flying at an altitude of 10,000 feet. 

Jin Air confirms that passengers on board the flight were promptly informed of the situation and were on landing in Cebu checked into a local hotel and given 100,000 won ($84) compensation each. The passengers took off in another flight to Busan about fifteen hours later.

It is confirmed that none of the passengers suffered any injuries in the incident though there were cases of some feeling nauseated in the course of the return flight. 

Following the incident, the South Korean Transport Ministry officials state that there is an ongoing investigation into the matter to ascertain the exact cause of what happened and proffer solutions. They also state that they are to carry out safety inspections on six low-cost airlines operating in South Korea this month, these includes Jin Air, Air Busan and four other airlines.