Passengers aboard AirAsia flight FD3015 had a less than pleasant surprise towards the ends of the journey, spotting a snake slithering on top of the overhead bins of the aircraft.
The domestic Thailand flight departed Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport on 13 January, heading to the southern province and popular tourist destinations of Phuket. Not long before reaching their destination however, passenger spotted a small snake hanging over their heads.
The incident was recorded by the people on the plane, one video in particular going viral on TikTok. Posted by user @wannabnailssalon, the short clip has got 6.5 million views in less than one week from being posted. It shows the snake slithering on top of the overhead bins and a flight attendant trying to capture it.
While passengers around the area are seen standing up and trying to distance themselves from the animal, a flight attendant is shown trying to put it into a plastic bottle. Since the snake was reluctant to get into the bottle, the same flight attendant then brings a big plastic bag and uses the bottle to push the snake inside.
“AirAsia crew were well trained to handle an occurrence of this nature and relocated passengers from the area as a precautionary measure”, Phol Poompuang, head of corporate safety of AirAsia Thailand, told CNN, while assuring this kind of incident is “very rare”.
The plane landed in Phuket without any issues and inspectors boarded the aircraft after landing, which are also shown in the viral TikTik video. “The safety and wellbeing of our guests and crew is always our top priority and at no time was the safety of guests or crew at any risk”, Poompuang added.
Information relating to how the snake got on the plane, whether it was an accident or someone tried to smuggle the animal, or its type and whether it was venomous or not are still unknown. However, inspectors searched the plane for other animals and the aircraft “underwent a deep clean and fumigation before resuming operations”, Poompuang said.
