Stowaway viper scares passengers on Mexico City flight

This was a stowaway the passengers on a commercial flight in Mexico were not prepared for. A serpent, believed to be a venomous green viper, frightened passengers on the flight and forced its priority landing, media reported.

It was a scene straight out of the 2006 Hollywood thriller "Snakes on a Plane".

The green reptile emerged suddenly on an Aeromexico flight from Torreon in the country's north to Mexico City on Sunday, slithering out from behind an overhead luggage compartment, the Guardian reported on Tuesday.

It wriggled briefly as if trapped before partially dropping down into the cabin.

Passengers hastily unbuckled themselves and got out of their seats to get clear of the snake before it dropped to the floor, said one of the passengers, Indalecio Medina, on a mobile phone video of the surreptitious snake.

People trapped it between rows five and six with blankets provided by a flight attendant, Medina said.

Although the passengers were frightened, they remained calm and nobody was hurt.

After the pilot radioed ahead, the plane was given priority landing in Mexico City and touched down 10 minutes later, the report said.

Animal control workers boarded the plane and took the slitherig guest away.

In a statement, Aeromexico said that it was investigating how the snake got into the cabin and that it would take measures to prevent such an incident from happening again.

Directed by David R. Ellis and starring Samuel L. Jackson, "Snakes on a Plane" is a 2006 action thriller film that follows the events of hundreds of snakes being released on a passenger plane in an attempt to kill a trial witness.

--IANS

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