An EgyptAir flight was forced to make an emergency landing on Monday after a passenger was bitten by a snake that he had smuggled aboard.
The victim, a Jordanian merchant who sells reptiles and had concealed the snake in his carry-on luggage, began screaming after takeoff when the snake escaped and sank its fangs into him.
The unidentified man then asked the crew to make an emergency landing so that he could receive medical attention for the bite, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The species of snake was not revealed by Egyptian authorities, who confiscated the reptile after the plane landed. Once on the ground, the man declined medical attention, saying the bite was superficial.
The plane resumed its flight to Kuwait. EgyptAir plans to conduct an investigation into the incident.
This isn’t the first time a plane has had to make an emergency landing after the discovery of a snake on board.
In April, during a flight in Australia, a pilot made an emergency landing after discovering loose snakes in his cock pit.
“My blood pressure and heart rate was a bit elevated -- it was an interesting experience . . . As the plane was landing, the snake was crawling down my leg, which was frightening,” said pilot Braden Blennerhassett, 26, in an interview with Australia’s 9News National.
(http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/04/05/11030675-ive-got-snakes-on-a-plane-pilot-makes-emergency-landing?lite)
According to a firefighter at the scene, the non-venomous green tree snake found in the pilot’s cockpit was likely stalking a green tree frog that has also been found on the aircraft.
The encounters might remind many moviegoers of the 2006 motion picture “Snakes on a Plane,” in which actor Samuel L. Jackson battles a plane-full of poisonous snakes planted by the mob to kill a government witness.
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