Airways passenger flight when he tried to open the cabin door at
35,000ft.
In his stupor he tugged away for up to two minutes at the exterior
door before telling BA cabin crew on board the packed Boeing 777 that
he had mistaken it for the toilet.
The incident alarmed eye-witnesses among the 229 passengers on board
flight BA 2158 as the Sri Lankan cricket team flew back high over the
Atlantic ocean from St Lucia to London Gatwick after playing against
the West Indies in the Tri Nations Tour.
Wrong door: A member of the Sri Lankan cricket team tried to open the
cabin door on the British Airways flight from St Lucia to Gatwick
while the plane was at 35,000ft
The team had boarded in Grenada for the overnight flight which
stopped over in St Lucia before landing at Gatwick just before 8am
Monday.
Witness Charlene Francis, 26, from Willesden in London was just feet
away from the unfolding drama with her one year-old daughter 'TJ',
her mother Linda and sleeping brotherKevin, when the incident
happened in economy class about six hours into an eight hour flight
from St Lucia to London's Gatwick Airport.
The recruitment consultant who is on maternity leave said: 'Itwas
pretty frightening. I'm a nervous flyer anyway but things had been
fine until then. I was awake. My daughter had been crying. So I saw
everything.'
She said the man wrestling with the door was among a group of cricket
players wearing the blue Sri Lankan polo-shirt team uniform with
their country's name in yellow lettering.
'Suddenly he came over and tried to open the cabin door several
times. It went on for a few minutes. He was pulling quite heavily.'
The Sri Lanka cricket team was flying to London after playing against
the West Indies in the Tri Nations Tour, pictured is Sri Lanka's
Lahiru Thirimanne, last Friday
'The BA flight attendants came running down the aisle and tried to
calm him down. He seemed quite disoriented. At one stage he was
leaning against my daughters cot.'
She heard the man tell cabin crew that he had been looking for the
toilet – an account confirmed by BA.
Mrs Francis said: 'It was very scary. He looked very dazed or drunk.
He was very tall and wearing black and red 'Dre' headphones.
'He had a blue polo shirt and the team logo along with his team-mates.
'Some of his team-mates were shouting and telling him to stop. I was
just a few feet away. My mum was really upset. Thank goodness he was
stopped.
'Somebody said they had been drinking for four hours before they got
on the plane.'
BA said: 'During the flight a man got up and tried to go to thetoilet.
'But instead of going to the toilet he tried to open the aircraft
door in mid-flight.
'The event was linked to "an element of alcohol". He explained his
mistake and cabin crew accepted it in good faith. Cabin crew
reassured customers who witnessed the event.'
The player, who has not been identified, was intoxicated on he flight
back from the game, pictured, and thought the cabindoor was the
bathroom
BA stressed that it is impossible to open the pressurised door
inmid-flight and that at no point was the safety of passengers
compromised.
Security were informed on the ground but police were not called or involved.
After leaving the BA flight at Gatwick, the player and his team mates
subsequently boarded another plane belonging to another airline taking
them on to Sri Lanka.
Officials confirmed witness accounts that the man at the centre of
the drunken escapade was a Sri Lankan cricketer but declined to name
him.
A British Airways spokesman said:' There was a minor incident onboard
the BA2158 service from St Lucia to Gatwick involving a customer who
we believe had been drinking'
He added: 'It is impossible to open an aircraft door when it is at
high altitude and at no point was the aircraft in any danger.
'Our cabin crew are highly trained to deal with such incidents and
offered re-assurance to customers who were sitting near to the door.'
The West Indies beat Sri Lanka by six wickets.
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