A Venomous Scorpion Was Found Crawling On A Lion Air Flight And Passengers Freaked Out
It was initially thought to have been a spider.
By Tamara Jayne — 19 Feb 2019, 04:04 PM
Passengers on a recent Lion Air flight to Jakarta, Indonesia were left terrified when an unexpected guest showed up inside their cabin
On Thursday, 14 February, a woman opened a baggage compartment and discovered a 12-inch venomous scorpion quickly scampering out of the shelf, The Straits Times reported.
The dark black creature resembled a Heterometrus Spinifer, which is commonly found in Indonesian forests and stings its victims.
Passengers immediately ran towards the nearest exit doors of the plane in an attempt to get away from the critter
"I was in row 19 with two other passengers, an elderly married couple. When we saw the scorpion above our heads, we rushed out as fast as we could," said passenger Karim Taslin, according to Daily Mail.
Cabin crew then searched the entire aircraft for the scorpion, which had already disappeared into the aircraft's fittings by then.
Following the incident, Lion Air spokesman Danang Mandala Prihantoro said that airline ground staff checked the plane thoroughly to look for the scorpion but found nothing
"To assure the safety, security, and convenience [of passengers] during the flight, the plane was properly examined to eliminate any possible pest threat," he said on Friday, 15 February, according to The Jakarta Post.
He also revealed that the plane had passed through pre-flight checks and was declared safe to fly the day before.
There has been no confirmation on how long the critter was on the plane, though Daily Mail reported that it is believed that the scorpion had been on the plane for a week.
Danang had previously misidentified the critter as a spider
The spokesman was quoted as saying by Kompas that: "Based on our observation of the video [that a passenger posted], it seems like a spider."
However, a photo of the incident on YouTube revealed that it was a small scorpion locally known as kala jengking.
The airline is currently investigating the appearance of the venomous animal, The Straits Times reported.