A Chinese traveller has been thrown in a police detention centre for 10 days after he opened an emergency exit moments before a plane was due to take off . Dong She insists he opened the door by mistake , telling Chinese media he thought the handle was a handrail that he could grab onto for support . The 42-year-old told Chinese news website iyaxin.com : ‘ I thought it was like the handrail on a bus. ’ The passenger said he had never been seated next to an emergency exit and opened the door by mistake . He told the website that he has flown on a plane before but he had never been seated next to an emergency exit until Saturday ’ s incident . He said he felt nervous and as a result had stood up and moved to the door to grab hold of what he thought was a handrail . The man , who was travelling with his wife on a domestic flight with Urumqi Airlines in north-east China , said he became scared when the door opened . He told police that escorted him from the plane : ' I did n't see any difference between that and what you see on the underground trains , where you can stand up and hold onto the side if you do n't want to be seated . ' I usually find when I 'm feeling nervous that it 's best to stand up and walk around , and I did n't realise I was doing anything wrong . ' In January , angry passengers opened emergency exit doors on a China Eastern flight in Chengdu . The plane returned to its gate and flight attendants reported the incident to local police , who removed the man from the flight and took him to a police station . He has been detained for 10 days for causing a 30-minute delay for other passengers , who were flying from Urumqi to Zhengzhou . Officials told iyaxin.com that the inflatable slide did not deploy when the emergency door was opened on flight UQ2505 . An airline official pointed out that signs are posted on the door to warn passengers not to open it or tinker with its handle . Saturday ’ s incident was at least the fifth time since December a passenger has opened an emergency exit on a plane in China . Last month , an unidentified man was detained for 10 days after opening a plane emergency exit as passengers were boarding at Nanjing airport , the South China Morning Post reported . He told airline staff ‘ The door is not important ’ when they asked him why he opened the door , the newspaper reported . In December , a first-time passenger yanked open an emergency door , activating the emergency slide . In January , angry passengers opened emergency exit doors in protest of a weather-related delay as their China Eastern flight taxied to a runway in Chengdu . It led to a longer delay for everyone on board . A month earlier , a man was arrested after he opened the emergency exit ‘ to get off quicker ’ after a China Eastern flight landed in Hainan . By unlocking an opening the emergency exit , he deployed the emergency slide . Also in December , a rookie traveller yanked open a door on a Xiamen Air flight from Hangzhou to Chengdu to ‘ get some fresh air ’ shortly before it was supposed to take-off .
Urumqi Airlines plane was preparing to depart Urumqi for Zhengzhou . Man named Dong said he became scared after the door swung open . He said it was the first time he had ever been seated at an emergency exit . Flight attendants called police and the man was removed from the plane . Police said he will be held for 10 days for causing a disruption .