By RAHIMI YUNUS / Pic By MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) said that airline passengers who were stuck in an aerotrain breakdown at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) yesterday put themselves in danger when they had to force open the doors and walked to the nearest terminal on the elevated tracks.

The aerotrain, which takes passengers from the planes to the main terminal buildings, broke down on Monday.

About 20 passengers inside the train were shown in a viral video walking on the tracks instead of waiting to be rescued after it broke down.

The video showed passengers opening the doors despite safety announcements asking them to remain on board and wait for rescue.

MAHB MD Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said the company was concerned for the safety of passengers and that they had ignored protocol.

“We are very concerned that some passengers had ignored the safety announcements on the aerotrain for

them to remain on board, but instead had prised opened the door to disembark midway during Monday’s incident,” he said in a statement.

“Our recovery SOP (standard operating procedure) would have ensured that the passengers were properly evacuated and escorted to the station if necessary, as had been done during the past breakdowns,” he added.

Badlisham said the airport has recovery plans in place and that an officer is on standby to drive the normally driverless trains to its station when necessary.

“There is also a second train as well as 10 shuttle buses ready to transport passengers during a breakdown.”

This was the second incident of breakdown in three months.

MAHB has embarked on a major maintenance and overhaul programme for the aerotrains to improve reliability and service to the passengers.

A 24-hour shuttle bus service has also been activated to support the train operations.