A snake is found hiding UNDER THE CARPET of a Japanese plane, forcing the flight to be cancelled

A mechanic at Fukuoka airport spotted the 40cm reptile at about 1pm on Monday while crew prepared the Japan Air Commuter plane for its 12.50pm departure to Kagoshima prefecture. It took a wildlife control expert around 24 hours to catch it. The aircraft had flown in from Izumo airport in Shimane prefecture. Japan Airlines says it still does not know how the snake got on board.

The snake was non-venomous, harmless and probably came from the wild.

Japan Airlines: 'There has never been a case of a snake getting into the cabin.'

In 2022 an AirAsia flight was rerouted after a snake slithered along a lighting panel.