A domestic flight in Australia was delayed for two hours on Tuesday after a snake was discovered in the aircraft’s cargo hold, authorities confirmed on Wednesday.
The unusual incident occurred at Melbourne Airport as passengers were boarding Virgin Australia flight VA337 bound for Brisbane. Snake catcher Mark Pelley responded to the emergency call after being alerted to the presence of the reptile.
The snake, a 60-centimeter green tree snake, turned out to be harmless. However, Pelley initially feared it might be venomous due to the dim lighting in the compartment.
“I didn’t realize it wasn’t venomous until after I had captured it. Up to that point, it looked very dangerous,” he said.
Australia is known for being home to some of the world’s deadliest snakes, which heightens concern in such situations. Upon entering the cargo hold, Pelley found the animal partially hidden behind a panel, from where it could have easily slipped into deeper parts of the aircraft.
He warned airline staff and an aircraft engineer that the plane might need to be evacuated if the snake disappeared inside. “I told them if I didn’t catch it on the first attempt, it could slip through the panels and they’d have to evacuate the plane,” he explained.
Fortunately, he managed to capture it on the first try. “If I hadn’t caught it then, we’d probably still be dismantling a Boeing 737 looking for a snake,” he added.
Pelley said it took him around 30 minutes to drive to the airport, and further time was lost due to passing through security before reaching the plane. Virgin Australia confirmed that the flight was delayed by about two hours.
The specialist suspects the snake, native to the Brisbane region, may have arrived in Melbourne hidden in a passenger’s luggage and escaped at some point during the two-hour flight.
Due to quarantine regulations, the snake cannot be released back into the wild. As a protected species, it has been handed over to a veterinarian in Melbourne, who will work to place it with a licensed snake handler.
