An easyJet flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Portugal after a passenger “hallucinated” snakes in the cabin.
The man, wearing a snake-patterned T-shirt, claimed to see the serpents slithering down the aisle, reported The Sun.
According to the outlet, the distressed passenger repeatedly screamed: “Snakes on a plane! We need to land!” around two-and-a-half hours into the journey.
Flight EZY8705 from London Gatwick to Marrakech, Morocco, diverted to Faro, Portugal, after the “violent and abusive” passenger started “intimidating staff and passengers” on Saturday (19 April).
A passenger told The Sun that the male flyer was “so drunk or on illegal drugs” and “imagining things”.
They said: “He was in such a state that he thought the snakes on his T-shirt were real and sliding around the seats.”
“It sounds funny to hear a passenger screaming “Snakes on the Plane!” but it was incredibly scary for the families on the easyJet flight,” added the source.
The Airbus A320 was met by police on landing in Faro before continuing to Marrakech, where it landed at 11pm, around eight hours after its departure.
EasyJet passengers due to board the return flight from Morocco to London faced a four-hour delay as a result of the diversion.
An easyJet spokesperson said: “easyJet can confirm that flight EZY8705 from London Gatwick to Marrakech on 19 April was diverted to Faro due to a passenger behaving disruptively onboard.
“The passenger was met by police on arrival in Faro. The safety of our customers and crew is always easyJet’s highest priority.”
It’s not the first time an animal sighting has caused chaos for an airline.
In November, a TAP Air Portugal plane was grounded for four days after over 130 hamsters broke loose inside the cargo hold and ran riot as they evaded capture from airport staff.
The rodent escapees had been on a passenger flight from Lisbon to Ponta Delgada on São Miguel Island, part of the Portuguese Azores, and were due to be delivered to a pet store along with ferrets and caged birds.
It took airport staff several days to spot and catch all the hamsters hiding and scurrying around the cargo hold.
For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast
