Passengers Panicked After Seeing 12-Inch Scorpion Stowing Away on a Lion Air Flight

Good day, people, I’m Zhi Hao and I’m your resident writer for today. And for starters, I would just like to ask you a simple question:

What do you look for on a plane trip?

A comfy journey? Michelin star meals? Quality movies? Heck, attractive air stewards/stewardesses?

Well, whatever it is, I bet you don’t wish for one thing:

12-inch scorpions.

But hey, before you recoil and scream at me for spoiling your illusion of a perfect plane trip, hear me out:

It’s actually real.

The prospect of a perfect flight? Gone.

What happened?

According to The Straits Times, passengers of Lion Air flight JT-293 were surprised to see a scorpion in the cabin of their plane, while travelling from Sultan Syarif Kasim II International Airport in Riau to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten last Thursday (14 February 2019).

The 12-inch long scorpion, which resembles a poisonous Asian forest scorpion, was found by a female passenger who opened the overhead compartment on the flight.

Apparently, this species is one of the most aggressive scorpions found in Indonesia and they’re well capable of stinging potential victims.

You can watch the video here:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Karim Taslim (@karimtaslim) on Feb 14, 2019 at 6:24pm PST

As seen from the video montage, passengers were panicking and scrambling for the exit when the poisonous arachnid’s legs were spotted dangling over the overhead compartment.

And honestly, who can blame them considering the arachnid’s huge pincers and venomous tail?

Timely intervention

After all the rushing and panicking, the airline’s cabin crew arrived to save the day. But by then the critter has already retreated back inside the plane’s roof.

“I didn’t have time to catch the scorpion. So it disappeared into the cabin baggage area. I pressed the emergency button. There was no response, so I shouted for help,” said onlooker Karim.

“But at that time the atmosphere in the cabin was crowded with passengers picking up their luggage, so the crew were also slow to arrive at row 19.”

“When I think back it makes me shiver. The scorpion could have dropped on our heads and stung us.”

Till now it’s uncertain how the scorpion had ‘infiltrated’ the airplane. It’s believed, however, that the critter has been dwelling within the aircraft for at least a week.

Statement

At a time like this, it’s not unusual to see heads roll (not literally). As my Aunt Matilda would probably put it…

What the **** is a scorpion doing on my plane? What’s this, a sequel to Snakes on a plane?

But to their credit, LionAir handled the situation reasonably well. After the discovery of the ‘uninvited guest’, ground officers and technicians arrived quickly and carried out the necessary search regulations. Alas, no animals were found inside the plane.

Did it go skydiving or something?

Thereafter, LionAir released a statement on Friday (15 February), expressing that they sprayed the plane a week prior to ensure zero creature pop-ups in the plane. Though from the looks of it, we’re finding their statement a tad hard to believe.

What would you do?

Flight experiences are supposed to be pleasant, optimal, and that’s only expected considering the exorbitant expenses you’re forking out in return. But a scorpion?

Oh hell nah.

As such, I end off this article with not some crude, lame moral of the story, but a question:

If you were on the plane, what would you have done?

Tell us in the comments section, and the best answer might just get a cookie! Virtual, but hey it’s still a cookie.

Though if you were to ask me, it would probably be something like this: