A real-life, albeit more minor situation of ‘Snakes on a Plane’
occurred onboard an AirAsia flight on 10 February when passengers
spotted a silhouette of a serpent, complete with a flickering forked
tongue, mid-journey from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau, Sabah.
Footage of the scene with the snake slithering within a translucent
panel in an Airbus A320 overhead compartment was posted on social media
platform TikTok where the video quickly racked up over 91,000 ‘likes’.
Once the reptilian stowaway was reported to the flight’s captain, the
aircraft was diverted to Kuching, Sarawak. According to CNA, the
airline said that the emergency landing was done “as a precautionary
measure to fumigate the aircraft”.
“This is a very rare incident which can occur on any aircraft from
time to time,” AirAsia’s chief safety officer Captain Liong Tien Ling
told CNA. “The captain took the appropriate action.”
“The safety and wellbeing of our guests and crew is always our top
priority. At no time was the safety of guests or crew at any risk,”
Liong added.
When The New Straits Times reached out to the Civil Aviation
Authority of Malaysia, chief executive officer Captain Datuk Chester Voo
Chee Soon confirmed the bizarre incident onboard Flight AK5748,
praising the crew members for handling the situation in compliance with
safety procedures and regulations.
CNA reported that the flight departed Kuching for Tawau on the same day.