Snake on a plane! Slithering reptile in overhead lights forces flight to reroute
Passengers had a movie-like experience onboard a flight in Malaysia this past week after someone spotted a snake slithering through the plane’s overhead lights.
In a video posted on TikTok, the silhouette of a long snake could be seen above passengers on an AirAsia flight leaving the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur to the city of Tawau on Feb. 10. A caption on the video, which has over 2.6 million views, translates to “snake in plane.” Many comments on the video alluded to the 2006 cult classic “Snakes on a Plane,” asking where the movie’s star, Samuel L. Jackson, was when they needed him.
AirAsia’s chief safety officer Captain Liong Tien Ling said in a statement to CNN that several passengers noticed the snake and alerted workers. Once the pilot was told, the flight was re-routed to the city of Kuching, around 550 miles west of Tawau. Ling added the plane was then fumigated, assuming the snake was taken out before passengers were put back on the plane to reach their destination.
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There have been numerous instances in recent years of snakes found in planes. In 2016, a passenger onboard a flight from Mexico caught a snake squirming from one of the aircraft’s overhead storage bins. A similar instance occurred on one flight from Alaska in 2017.
There also have been scarier incidents, like in 2019 when an Australian woman found a python in her shoe during a 9,000-mile flight, as well as a venomous Indian krait found in a carry-on bag at an Indian airport in 2018.
Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.