A Virgin Australia flight was delayed for two hours after a snake was discovered inside the plane’s cargo hold, sparking panic and nearly forcing an evacuation.
The incident happened on July 2 as passengers boarded Flight VA337 from Melbourne to Brisbane. Snake catcher Mark Pelley was called to the scene after airline staff spotted the reptile behind a panel in the darkened hold.
The snake turned out to be a harmless two-foot green tree snake, but Pelley initially feared it was venomous.
“It wasn’t until after I caught the snake that I realized it wasn’t venomous. Until that point, it looked very dangerous to me,” he said, according to AP.
Snake scare delays flight by two hours
With most of the world’s most venomous snakes calling Australia home, Pelley warned staff the plane would need to be evacuated if the reptile disappeared inside the aircraft.
“I told them if I don’t get this in one shot, it’s going to sneak through the panels and you’re going to have to evacuate the plane because at that stage I did not know what kind of snake it was,” he said.
“But thankfully, I got it on the first try and captured it. If I didn’t get it that first time, the engineers and I would be pulling apart a 737 looking for a snake still right now.”
Pelley said he had to drive 30 minutes to the airport and was delayed by security before reaching the aircraft.
The flight was delayed around two hours while the snake was removed.
Because the green tree snake is native to Brisbane, Pelley believes it may have hitched a ride in someone’s luggage during the flight to Melbourne and escaped before takeoff on the return trip.
Due to quarantine rules, the snake cannot be released into the wild. It is now with a Melbourne veterinarian who will place it with a licensed snake keeper.
This isn’t the first time a snake has caused a debacle on a flight. In 2024, AirAsia passengers made a startling discovery when a live snake joined their flight, and footage of the unexpected flyer onboard went viral.
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