Mid-air scare as passenger mistakes exit door for toilet in GoAir flight

A passenger sparked panic in mid-air when he tried to open a plane door, apparently mistaking it for the toilet, GoAir airline said.

Watch: Jet Airways flight returns to Mumbai after passengers suffer nose, ear bleeds

The man was travelling on a GoAir flight from New Delhi to Patna on Saturday when he attempted to open the aircraft's rear exit, the carrier said.

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"A co-passenger raised the alarm and he was intercepted by the crew," GoAir said in a statement emailed to AFP on Tuesday.

Reports said he was a first-time flier in his late 20s.

When fellow passengers asked him what he was doing he told them he "needed to use the washroom urgently and kept tugging at the exit door", reports said.

GoAir said the passenger was handed over to the authorities for further investigation after the plane arrived safely at its destination.

A spokesperson for the airline added that the man wouldn't have succeeded in opening the door anyway due to air pressure in the cabin.

The incident comes almost a week after a cockpit mix-up left more than 30 passengers on a Jet Airways plane bleeding from their ears and noses after the crew reportedly forgot to flick a switch regulating cabin air pressure.

The flight from Mumbai to Jaipur, which was carrying 166 passengers, had to turn back. Those affected were given medical attention while the flight crew was suspended pending an investigation.