Image courtesy of: The Sunday Observer

Rambukwella believes he mistook the cabin door for the toilet since he was half-asleep

Sri Lanka A player Ramith Rambukwella has been fined 50 per cent of his tour fee after he mistook a flight’s cabin doors for the toilet 35,000 feet in the air, resulting in numerous passengers on board panicking for their lives.

Sri Lanka Cricket’s (SLC) executive committee have also asked the board’s chief to serve Rambukwella with a severe warning for his reckless behaviour.

The incident occurred on a British Airways flight from St Lucia to London’s Gatwick airport.

Passengers on board were quoted by the Daily Mail as saying that Rambukwella appeared intoxicated and wrestled with the cabin door for approximately two minutes.

Speaking about his actions, Rambukwella, who is the son of Sri Lanka’s mass media minister, stated that the error occurred due to the fact that he was half-asleep.

After the media caught wind of the incident, a report was submitted to SLC by Jayantha Seneviratne, who is Sri Lanka A’s team manager.

The report led to an inquiry being launched by SLC’s anti-corruption officer, in which Sri Lanka A bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake is reported to have been the primary eye-witness as many of Rambukwella’s team-mates refused to testify.