Passenger opens plane emergency exit after mistaking it for bathroom

A woman has opened an emergency door on a Pakistan International flight after she thought it was a toilet, causing the still grounded plane to be evacuated.

A passenger aboard a Pakistani airliner couldn’t hold it in before takeoff in the UK, so she scurried to the toilet, but accidentally opened the emergency exit door — causing the slide to deploy, according to reports.

Pakistan International Airlines Flight 702, which was prepared for an on-time departure from Manchester to Islamabad on Friday night, ended up being delayed by almost eight hours, according to The Independent.

A woman mistook an emergency exit door for a toilet on a plane. Picture: Supplied

The woman, who ignored the seatbelt signs, mistakenly opened the door at the rear of the plane, adjacent to the toilet, while all the doors were “armed,” meaning the emergency evacuation slides were set to deploy, reports the New York Post.

“A passenger erroneously opened the emergency door causing the emergency slide to activate,” leading to all the passengers being removed from the plane, PIA said in a statement.

When a slide is deployed in error, an airline may choose to continue a flight and replace it at its home base, as PIA did, but fewer passengers are allowed to fly because of the reduced evacuation capacity.

The incident happened on a Pakistan International flight. Picture: Shutterstock

In this case, 38 of the passengers volunteered to be placed on a later flight.

“All passengers were provided dinner. The offloaded passengers were provided with transportation and hotel accommodation and will be adjusted on the next available flight,” the airline said.

Some of those passengers complained that their baggage had been left behind in Manchester.

“Pathetic service from PIA. I am one of the 38 passengers who voluntarily offloaded from PK702 so it can fly to Islamabad only on the condition that all 38 of us will get our luggage,” a passenger tweeted as “Sleeping Beauty.”

A plane toilet. Not an exit door. Picture: Supplied

“First you did not give it to us in Manchester. … Then when we reached here today we were told half of our luggage is still at Manchester airport,” she wrote after arriving in Islamabad.

This story was originally published in the New York Post and is reprinted with permission.