Rats said to be on board flights to Doha

By Erika Widén
  • Monday, 2 September 2013 1:39 PM
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A rat made its way to Doha on board a flight from Mumbai International Airport, sparking embarrassment and concerns about safety regulations at the Indian hub.

According to the Mumbai Mirror, officials have been struggling to exterminate a “sudden rat menace” at the city’s main airport. According to the report, Jet Airways, Continental, Emirates Airline and Qatar Airways have reported rat sightings along bay numbers 48 to 55.

Officials have narrowed down the problem to aerobridges at the airport, where rats are believed to be nesting and breeding.

"Rodents are a cause of worry as they could damage sensitive aircraft wiring, and this would mean disaster," said an American pilot who docks his aircraft at these bays. "Rats are fond of gnawing off the insulation paddings in aircraft. This could result in malfunctioning or failure of aircraft systems," he added.

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Posted by: Ratatouille Tuesday, 3 September 2013 4:31 PM[UAE] - Newfoundland

May be the economic crisis in india made the rat to undertake such a big step in the right direction.

May be the rat has the qatar world cup 2022 in mind and wants to build an army of rats to welcome the guests.

Very soon qatar will be flooded with Indian Rats, as these rodents are known to breed very fast. They will outnumber the local rats of qatar and then probably very soon under the purview of locals and then inder the pretext of localisations be expelled from new found land. End of Story.

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Posted by: Pied Piper Tuesday, 3 September 2013 11:00 AM[UAE] - UK

As my friend Manuel would say ' Ess no rat! Ess Hamster!
I always had it in my mind that 'rats left a sinking ship' !... Whatever it is very serious having any sort of rodent on board a flight as they can do serious damage to cables etc, as well as being carriers of very nasty viruses... Ever heard of the 'Black Death' it was very popular in Europe during the 13th/14th centuries? !

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Posted by: Stevushka Tuesday, 3 September 2013 9:08 AM[UAE] - Thailand

Well if the rats boarded in Germany, they would be German rats. Unless the "Indian Rats" had a stop over!

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Posted by: ahmed Tuesday, 3 September 2013 9:07 AM[UAE] - uae

in a lighter vein ...to add to what waqas and ali are mentioning, now how did anyone decipher where the rats boarded this particular flight from? they could have got onboard anywhere this particular plane flew to or from....

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Posted by: Thoughtful Tuesday, 3 September 2013 9:07 AM[UAE] - Kuwait

Don't be silly people. Of course the rats credentials (passport. visit visa & perhaps skin color) clearly served to prove the identity of the rodent beyond reasonable doubt.

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