A mock viper escaped undetected on a packed TUI flight from Mexico to the UK, slithering through the cabin while 345 passengers remained totally oblivious
A viper escaped and slithered through the cabin of a packed passenger flight in scenes echoing 2006 action movie ‘Snakes on a Plane.’
The serpent broke free aboard a crowded TUI aircraft travelling from Mexico to the UK.. Not one of the 345 travellers on board spotted the scaly intruder, believed to be a “mildly venomous” mock viper.
The snake was discovered by a cleaner moments after the plane touched down at Gatwick on Friday, June 5. An airport employee captured a photo of the reddish-brown serpent, suspected to have been smuggled aboard at Cancun, before it then vanished.
Technicians and wildlife specialists have attempted to locate it on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, which had to be withdrawn from service, but the reptile remains elusive.
A source speaking to the Sun stated: “It beggars belief that a passenger brought the mock viper on board. It’s not known what damage the snake could do to the mechanics of the plane.
“The sight of the snake almost gave the airline cleaners a heart attack. But by the time they had raised the alarm the animal had disappeared. There was no way the airliner could be allowed to take off again. If passengers had seen the snake at 30,000ft there would have been blind panic and pandemonium on board.”
The episode mirrors the 2006 thriller ‘Snakes on a Plane’ in which an FBI agent must take control of a passenger jet after a criminal unleashes poisonous serpents during a flight.
Insiders at TUI likened the search for the snake to “trying to find a needle in a haystack,” reports the Express. It comes after two men allegedly snuck thousands of ants onto a plane while travelling between Nairobi, Kenya and China.
A Chinese man and a Kenyan man were arrested in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi after aviation authorities in the African country found the creepy-crawlies reportedly stashed in their luggage. The critters had apparently been stashed in test tubes and wrapped in tissue, and were bound for China, where collectors apparently pay big bucks for them as pets.
A court in the Kenyan capital heard how Chinese national Zhang Kegun bought the ants from Charles Mwangi for around £1200, but was looking to sell them on for much more.
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