Snake found in luggage compartment, passenger plane delayed for 2 hours

(Dan Tri) - On July 1 (local time), a domestic flight in Australia was delayed for 2 hours after a snake was discovered hiding in the plane's luggage compartment.

The snake was discovered as passengers were boarding Virgin Australia flight VA337 at Melbourne Airport (Australia), heading to Brisbane (Australia).

According to snake catcher Mark Pelley, it was a non-venomous green tree snake, about 60cm long. He said that most of the world's most venomous snakes are native to Australia.

When I approached it in the darkroom, Pelley thought it might be venomous. "It was only after I caught the snake that I realized it wasn't venomous. At first, it still looked very dangerous," Pelley said.

Mark Pelley holding a green tree snake (Photo: CBS News).

He said that when he entered the cargo hold, the snake was partially hidden behind a panel and that it was likely to have escaped deeper into the plane. The expert told the flight engineers and airline staff that they would have to evacuate the plane if the snake disappeared inside.

"I told them if I didn't catch it in one go, it would sneak through the panels and you'd have to evacuate the plane, because at that point I didn't know what kind of snake it was or if it was venomous," Pelley said.

Luckily, Pelley caught the snake on the first try, and he "half-joked" that if he hadn't caught the snake, the engineers might have had to "take apart an airplane to find the snake."

Pelley said he had to drive 30 minutes to the airport, then was delayed by security, before he could board the plane. An airline official said the flight was delayed about two hours because of the snake.

As the snake originated in the Brisbane area, Pelley suspects it was smuggled onto the plane in a passenger's luggage and escaped during the two-hour flight from Brisbane to Melbourne.

Due to quarantine reasons, the snake cannot be released back into the wild. The snake, which is protected by law, was handed over to a Melbourne vet to find and return to a licensed snake keeper.

According to the Department of Biology at Lamar University (USA), green tree snakes can live anywhere there is warm bush. They eat frogs, lizards, small birds and eggs.

Snakes have been spotted on Australian flights before. In 2013, Qantas Airways passengers were shocked to look out their windows and see a large python clinging to the wing of their plane during a two-hour flight from the northeastern Australian city of Cairns to Papua New Guinea.

Snakes have also been found on passenger flights in other countries. In 2022, a snake was found on a United Airlines passenger flight from Florida (USA) to New Jersey (USA).

The non-venomous snake was removed from the plane by airport staff after the flight landed in Newark (a city in New Jersey).

That same year, an AirAsia flight was forced to turn around and make an emergency landing after a snake was seen slithering through the ceiling lights.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/du-lich/phat-hien-ran-trong-khong-hanh-ly-may-bay-cho-khach-bi-hoan-2-gio-20250704132410239.htm