A Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight had to resort to an emergency landing after a mouse scampered out of a passenger’s meal. The incident occurred on Wednesday when the flight was en route from Oslo, Norway, to Malaga, Spain, but was diverted to Copenhagen, Denmark, due to the rodent on board.
The company confirmed on Friday that the emergency landing was due to a live mouse on board that crawled out of a meal served to a passenger during the flight. Airlines usually strictly prohibit rodents from flying as they can pose a serious risk to flight operations by chewing on the electrical wiring of the plane.
“In line with our procedures, there was a change of aircraft,” an SAS official, Oystein Schmidt, told AFP. The travellers were flown to Malaga on a different flight.
Schmidt added, “This is something that happens extremely rarely.”
“We have established procedures for such situations, which also include a review with our suppliers to ensure this does not happen again,” he said.
Passenger Jarle Borrestad, who was also on board the SAS flight, shared the ordeal on his Facebook page with a photograph of him with two women. “Believe it or not. A lady next to me… opened her food and a mouse jumped out,” he wrote.
According to BBC, Borrestad was seated next to the woman who encountered the mouse in the food. The incident only added an extra few hours to the journey as the flight was diverted.
In another incident, which occurred within a week apart from this, train operations in southern England were halted mid-journey after two squirrels boarded the train and one refused to get off, causing panic among passengers.
(With inputs from agencies)
