Snake on a plane: Slithery serpent forces plane bound for Tawau to land in Kuching

KOTA KINABALU: An Air Asia flight bound for Tawau from Kuala Lumpur was diverted to Kuching after a snake was spotted inside the aircraft.

Air Asia chief safety officer Capt Liong Tien Ling said as rare as the incident on Thursday (Feb 11) evening was, it is something that happened from time to time.

"AirAsia is aware of an incident on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau on Thursday.

"As soon as the captain was aware, he made the decision to divert the aircraft to Kuching as a precautionary measure to fumigate the aircraft," he said in a statement.

"This is a very rare incident which can occur on any aircraft from time to time," he said.

Liong said appropriate action was taken to get the reptile out of the aircraft before it rerouted back to Tawau.

He said the safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew was always their top priority.

It was unclear how the snake got into the aircraft, or if it belonged to any of the passengers.

No one was injured in the incident.