(NewsNation) — Passengers on an Air Canada Rouge jet were not just hearing things recently when they reported muffled yells and banging from somewhere inside the plane.
It turns out a baggage handler became trapped inside the cargo hold shortly before takeoff and was screaming to be rescued.
The potentially dangerous incident happened Dec. 13 as Flight 1502 was taxiing to the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport — moments away from departing for Moncton, New Brunswick.
Stephanie Cure of Moncton said fellow passengers alerted her to the muffled noise, which sounded “like someone yelling for help.”
Flight attendants ran down the cabin aisle of the Airbus 321A, which came to a halt before reaching the runway. Witnesses said the pilot soon made an announcement that an airport employee was trapped in the belly of the plane.
Air Canada told the Toronto Star that doors of the cargo hold “inadvertently closed while a member of the ground crew was inside.” The uninjured worker was released from the confined space.
As for the passengers, their flight was significantly delayed when the plane went back to the terminal. Because of safety rules governing the number of hours that flight crews work, the plane did not depart until the following evening.
Baggage holds in commercial airliners are pressurized, although temperatures are colder than the main cabin. Someone trapped inside the compartment would be expected to survive, an aviation analyst told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing.