A passenger on El Al flight LY001 traveling from Israel to JFK opened one of the plane’s emergency doors and attempted to jump off the plane on Wednesday. The plane had just landed in New York.

Crew members who noticed the man grabbed him and prevented him from leaping out of the Boeing 747, thereby saving his life.

In a statement made by an El Al Spokesperson the airline said: “When the plane arrived at the gate and during the descent of the passengers, an American passenger opened one of the rear passenger doors that are not intended for passengers. Two EL AL crew-members who noticed the passenger kept their cool and acted resourcefully in grabbing the passenger as he hung from the door at a great height, and thereby saved his life.”

Once aware of the situation, crew members alerted the ground crews who arrived promptly with a ladder and took the man down safely. He was arrested by police at the airport.

“An El Al ground crew employee An El Al employee who noticed this was also resourceful and quickly brought a ladder to the door. The passenger jumped onto the ladder and began to run on the runway until he was stopped by the authorities and transferred for questioning and to clarify his motives for the act,” the company added.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)