Bengaluru techie’s mid-air horror of being trapped in SpiceJet loo: ‘Was thrown around during landing’

Malfunctioning of the SpiceJet lavatory door led to the passenger getting stuck onboard the flight from Mumbai to Bengaluru.

A software professional, who was stuck inside the toilet of a SpiceJet plane during its entire flight from Mumbai to Bengaluru, has recalled his ordeal of being trapped in the tiny space mid-air on Tuesday. The passenger was rescued after an engineer broke open the door after landing at the Bengaluru airport. The 37-year-old plans to sue the airline and complain to aviation regulator DGCA, the Times of India reported.

"I was traumatised, dazed and injured as I was thrown around inside the toilet as the plane landed in Bengaluru. There was no medical assistance at all,” the 37-year-old was quoted as saying by the Times of India. He added that he did not accept the Rs 5,000 voucher that SpiceJet offered him.

Apologising for the incident on Wednesday, the airline had said he was stuck because of a "malfunction in the door lock" and that he is being provided a full refund. The flight was operated with a Boeing 737-8 aircraft.

An X user shared a screenshot of a WhatsApp note in which the cousin of the passenger described the man’s trauma as he was stuck in the plane’s toilet.

The man, who was allotted seat 14D, went to use the toilet at the plane’s front end soon after the flight took off from Mumbai at 2:10 am on Tuesday.

“Within minutes, I realised something was wrong with the lock and I tried to open it,” he told the Times of India.

"I managed to draw the attention of the crew, who tried to open the door. It was getting scarier every minute.”

A hand-written note that the crew wrote for the harrowed passenger and slipped in through the gap in the door was also widely shared on social media.

According to the report, after landing at 3:42 am, an engineer at the Bengaluru airport entered the aircraft to open the lavatory door only after all the other passengers had disembarked.

"During landing, I was thrown around and suffered injuries. It took 20 minutes for someone to start breaking open the door. When I came out, I had bruises, and my vision was blurred for a while. But I received no medical help even after coming out of the loo. I got a bottle of water and a barrage of apologies from SpiceJet,” the passenger told the newspaper.