Plane rides are great. You never know who you might bump into on a flight. Bollywood celebrities, sportspersons, Mynah birds and even poisonous scorpions. Yes, you read that right.
Passengers of an Indonesian flight were left scrambling after they spotted a scorpion (or kalajengking as the locals call it) crawling out of the overhead luggage compartment. The Jakarta Post reports that the Lion Air flight JT-293 was travelling from Riau to Banten, Jakarta.
Karim Taslim, one of the passengers on board, saw the poisonous 12-inch dark black arachnid after the flight had landed and people were collecting their hand luggage. The video of the panic-filled incident has since gone viral
What ensued was everyone fleeing out in a chaotic manner so as to avoid being stung. Karim recounted the incident saying,
“The scorpion showed up just above my head, we wanted to leave the aircraft as soon as possible! When the flight crew came to look, the scorpion already crawled back into the ceiling.”
Lion Air spokesperson Danang Mandala Prihantoro seems to think it’s a spider though
Flight personnel have not been able to capture the scorpion. Their official statement says that they are investigating how the creature came to be on board. The Boeing 737-800NG plane has been thoroughly checked and declared safe to fly.
On a scale of 1-10, how freaked out would you be if this happened in your flight? Personally, I’d say 14!