A snake mysteriously located under the carpets of a Japan Airlines Commuter flight caused havoc as the service was promptly cancelled amidst a 24 hour long reptile chase lead by wildlife professionals.
Reptilian stowaway
At around 1pm on Oct. 20 a mechanic working onboard Japan Airline’s Commuter aircraft discovered a 40cm snake hidden underneath the carpet floor of the plane’s passenger cabin, minuets before the service was set to depart for Kagoshima prefecture.
The flight was swiftly cancelled, however in doing so cabin crew lost sight of the unwanted passenger, causing a 24 hour investigation lead by wildlife specialists to locate the snake.
Thankfully the snake was found and promptly identified as harmless, though reports have not specified the species.
Experts and cabin crew are left puzzled as to how the reptile was able to make its way onboard; the aircrafts’ flight history that day had included an arrival from Izumo Airport earlier that day, having arrived at Fukuoka Airport where the slithering offender was discovered- though this does not explain how the snake could have found its way on board.
Cabin crew say that the only plausible explanations would either be that a previous passenger set the serpent loose on the plane, or it slithered onto the aircraft itself- making this the first recorded incident of a snake finding its way onto an aircraft through its own curious volition.
Japan Airlines issued a statement concerning the mystery:
“As far as we can determine, there has never been a case of a snake getting into the cabin. We are sorry for the inconvenience caused to passengers.”
Incident history
We’ve all heard of the infamous horror/action 2006 film Snakes on a Plane, but who really thought this was a realistic scenario?
Back in just June of this year a venomous mock viper was discovered to have make its way onto an overnight TUI flight from Cancun to London, only to be found by a surprised cleaner at Gatwick Airport.
Most airlines don’t allow for domesticated reptiles to board passenger cabins, other than the exception of small turtles across some European airlines. Reptiles are primarily expected to be classified and checked in as specialised air cargo.
Would you still board a plane if you knew an unwanted animal had been previously discovered onboard? Let us know in the comments!
