HONG KONG, July 18: A Cathay Pacific Airways flight attendant found herself in an unusual predicament this week when she spent 16 hours holding a bathroom door after it broke minutes into the flight from Hong Kong to New York.

According to reports from the South China Morning Post, the bathroom door came off its hinges just three minutes after the flight departed from Hong Kong International Airport bound for John F Kennedy International Airport on Monday.

Efforts by the flight attendants to reattach the door during the flight were unsuccessful. It remains unclear whether anyone was using the bathroom at the time of the malfunction.

Photographs published by the South China Morning Post showed the flight attendant visibly distressed while holding onto the door. The incident, which occurred during takeoff, raised questions about how the door became detached.

Despite the unexpected situation, the flight safely landed at its destination around 5 pm on Monday.

In response to the incident, Cathay Pacific Airways issued a statement to the South China Morning Post, saying, "The defect was rectified and our engineering team is conducting a follow-up investigation. The safety of our customers and crew is paramount, and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience caused."