A domestic Virgin Australia flight was delayed for two hours after a snake was discovered in the cargo hold, officials reported on Wednesday.
The reptile was found on Tuesday while passengers were boarding Flight VA337 at Melbourne Airport, which was headed to Brisbane, according to professional snake catcher Mark Pelley.
The snake, a non-venomous green tree snake about 60 centimeters (2 feet) long, initially appeared dangerous in the dim light of the hold, Pelley said.
“At first, I thought it might be venomous. It looked threatening until I caught it and realized it wasn’t,” he explained.
Australia is home to many of the world’s most venomous snakes, making any unexpected reptile a cause for concern.
When Pelley entered the cargo area, the snake was partially concealed behind a panel and risked slipping further into the aircraft.
He warned the airline staff and an aircraft engineer that if the snake got away, the entire plane would need to be evacuated.
“I told them if I didn’t catch it on the first attempt, it might disappear into the plane, and then we’d need to evacuate and possibly dismantle parts of the aircraft to find it,” Pelley said.
“Luckily, I was able to grab it immediately. Otherwise, we might still be taking apart a Boeing 737 trying to track it down.”
Pelley mentioned that he spent 30 minutes driving to the airport and experienced further delays due to security procedures before reaching the aircraft.
A representative for the airline confirmed the incident delayed the flight by approximately two hours.
Since the green tree snake is native to Brisbane, Pelley suspects it hitched a ride in a passenger’s luggage during the flight from Brisbane to Melbourne and escaped afterward.
Due to quarantine rules, the snake cannot be released back into the wild. As a protected species, it has been handed over to a Melbourne veterinarian who will arrange for it to be rehomed with a licensed snake keeper.
Source: AFP
Bd-pratidin English/FNC
