KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: An AirAsia flight in Malaysia recently made an emergency landing after a snake was discovered aboard the plane.
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, Kuala Lumpur, enroute to the city of Tawau on 10th February.
The video, which has been viewed over 2.6 million times, feathered a caption that translates into “Snake In Plane,” and comments alluded to the 2006 cult classic film, “Snakes on a Plane,” starring Samuel L. Jackson.
In a statement to CNN, Captain Liong Tien Ling, AirAsia’s chief safety officer, said that several passengers noticed the snake and alerted staff, and once the pilot was told, the flight was re-routed to the city of Kuching, around 550 miles west of Tawau.
Ling added that the plane was then fumigated, assuming the snake was taken out before passengers were put back on the plane to reach their destination.
“This is a very rare incident which can occur on any aircraft from time to time..At no time was the safety of guests or crew at any risk,” Ling said.
It was unclear what type of snake was on the plane, or how it came to be there.
Many instances of snakes found in planes have occurred in recent years. In 2016, a passenger onboard a flight from Mexico caught a snake in one of the aircraft’s overhead storage bins.
In 2019, 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.
