KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 — A Citilink flight from Jakarta to Batam had to make an emergency landing yesterday when an unsupervised child attempted to unlock an emergency exit mid-flight.

The unexpected stopover was executed in Palembang’s Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport at 4.05pm after the flight’s captain opted to take the precautionary action following the incident, reported Coconuts.

According to Citilink, the child was not supervised, had dislodged the safety cover from an emergency exit door latch.

Citilink Corporate Secretary and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) vice president Diah Suryani stated in a statement that the cabin crew approached the child’s parents for clarification right after the incident. 

"The cabin crew immediately sought an explanation from the child’s parents. 

"The parents were also required to make a statement to the authorities at Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II.”

According to the Covid-19 traveling guidelines, children below 12 years old are not allowed to travel by plane.

Suryani also said that the child involved in this incident had been granted permission to travel by the Covid-19 Task Force at Soekarno-Hatta Airport.

So far, no penalties have been imposed on the parents.

The plane later took off from Palembang and landed in Batam at 7.52pm.