Scorpion bites woman passenger onboard Air India flight

The airline insists that it followed all the necessary protocols upon discovering a scorpion on one of its planes. The aircraft was duly inspected and fumigated after the arachnid was found.

In a rare and shocking incident, a woman passenger was bitten by a scorpion onboard an Air India flight from Nagpur to Mumbai last month.

On landing at the airport, the passenger was attended by a doctor and subsequently treated at a hospital and discharged, the airline said in a statement on Saturday.

Air India has confirmed that there was an incident involving a scorpion biting a passenger on board flight AI 630 on April 23, 2023. This is a rare and unfortunate event that we hope will not happen again.

The airline insists that it followed all the necessary protocols when it discovered a scorpion on one of its planes. After finding the arachnid, the aircraft was fumigated as per procedure.

Following the incident, Air India has asked the catering department to advise dry cleaners to check their facilities for any bed bugs infestation and if necessary, carry out fumigation of the facilities. There is a possibility of bugs finding their way into the aircraft through the supplies, an Air India official said.

Earlier this year, there was a snake found curled up under a passenger’s seat on a plane. This is not the first time that reptiles have been found on board aircraft – in the past, lizards, turtles and even alligators have been discovered in unexpected places. While it’s not clear how these animals end up on planes, it’s thought that they may have hitched a ride inside of cargo or luggage.

In December last year, a snake was found coiled up in the cargo hold of an Air India Express plane from Calicut after it landed at the Dubai airport.