Snake on a plane: Live reptile slithers into cabin of Aeromexico flight
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Passengers on a commercial flight in Mexico were given a start when a serpent slithered into the cabin in a scene straight out of the Hollywood thriller Snakes on a Plane.
The green reptile appeared suddenly on an Aeromexico flight from Torreon in the country's north to Mexico City on Sunday, emerging from the ceiling behind an overhead luggage compartment.
Mobile video shot by passenger Indalecio Medina showed it wriggling briefly as if trapped, before partially dropping down into the cabin.
"I was reading a magazine and the passenger next to me saw it and, 'Oh my word!'" Medina said.
He estimated the reptile was more than one metre in length.
Passengers hastily unbuckled themselves to get clear of the dangling snake before it dropped to the floor, where people trapped it between rows five and six with blankets provided by a flight attendant, Medina said.
"It was a frightening situation ... but people remained calm because it didn't get out of that space and nobody became hysterical," Medina said.
"Some people got up to see what kind of reptile it was, but nobody got carried away."
After the pilot radioed ahead, the plane was given priority landing in Mexico City and touched down 10 minutes later.
Passengers exited out the rear, and animal control workers came on board to take the stowaway into custody.
Aeromexico said in a statement it was investigating how the snake got into the cabin and would take measures to keep such an incident from happening again.
Snakes on a Plane was a 2006 action movie that was about exactly what the title suggests. It is treasured by fans for its campy premise and star Samuel L. Jackson's profanity-laced declaration of war on the CGI-generated serpents.
AP
Topics: animals, social-media, offbeat, human-interest, mexico
