A Chinese man who opened the emergency exit of an aircraft while waiting to disembark has been detained for 15 days and fined 70,000 yuan (Rs 7.34 lakh),the South China Morning Postreported on Monday.

The man, identified only by his surname Chen, was returning from the island of Hainan when the incident took place. He was waiting to disembark the aircraft parked at the Mianyang Nanjiao airport in China’s Sichuan province when he felt uncomfortable. “Because it was so stuffy, so hot on the plane, I just pushed down on the window handle beside me,” Chen said.

Chen told the police that he wasn’t aware that the handle was part of the emergency exit door. When he realised that the emergency slide was deploying automatically at the same time the door came inward, he “panicked”, reported Newsweek.

The airline said the man’s lack of knowledge was inexcusable due to the safety instruction demonstration and emergency manual available on flights, Newsweek said quoting ThePaper.cn, a Chinese media website.

“Before each take off, flight attendants inform passengers about safety precautions,” the airline stated, according to the South China Morning Post. Passengers were made aware of emergency exits, the airline said, adding that considerable force was needed to open them.