Snake on a plane delays a flight in Australia

An Australian domestic flight was delayed for two hours after a stowaway snake was found in the plane’s cargo hold, officials said yesterday.

The snake was found on Tuesday as passengers were boarding Virgin Australia Flight VA337 at Melbourne Airport bound for Brisbane, according to snake catcher Mark Pelley.

The snake turned out to be a harmless 60-centimeter green tree snake. But Pelly said he thought it could be venomous when he approached it in the darkened hold.

“It wasn’t until after I caught the snake that I realized that it wasn’t venomous. Until that point, it looked very dangerous to me,” Pelley said.

Most of the world’s most venomous snakes are native to Australia.

When Pelley entered the cargo hold, the snake was half hidden behind a panel and could have disappeared deeper into the plane.

Pelley said he told airline staff that they would have to evacuate the aircraft if the snake disappeared inside the plane.

Because the snake is native to the Brisbane region, he suspects it came aboard inside a passenger’s luggage and escaped during the two-hour flight from Brisbane to Melbourne.

For quarantine reasons, the snake can’t be returned to the wild.