Watch | Passengers Flying to Bangkok Find Live Snake in Overhead Luggage Bin of AirAsia Flight

Passengers aboard an AirAsia Thailand flight which took off from Bangkok for Phuket were in panic after they spotted a live snake in an overhead luggage bin last week. On January 13, passengers aboard flight FD3015 which departed Mueang International Airport in Bangkok earlier in the day found the reptile slithering in the overhead cabin. The video of the incident went viral and a flight attendant was seen trying to capture the snake with a water bottle and later switched to a garbage bag.

AirAsia Thailand in a statement said it was aware of the incident aboard FD3015. The airline’s head of corporate safety Phol Poompuang said the sighting was a a “very rare incident” and added that flight attendants are “well trained to handle” such incidents.

He further added that passengers seated in and around that area were relocated as a precautionary measure and the landing completed without incident. Once it landed, engineering and safety teams inspected the flight and carried out a deep clean operation and fumigated the flight before resuming operations.

“Flight attendants were notified before landing in Phuket after a passenger noticed a small snake in the overhead luggage compartment. AirAsia crew were well trained to handle an occurrence of this nature and relocated passengers from the area as a precautionary measure,” Phol told US-based news broadcaster CNN.

“As per standard procedure for an incident of this nature, the aircraft underwent a deep clean and fumigation before resuming operations. The safety and wellbeing of our guests and crew is always our top priority and at no time was the safety of guests or crew at any risk,” he further added.

Authorities have not yet found out what type of snake was found on the plane. It remains unclear if it was venomous or non-venomous. The airlines also did not mention what happened to the snake after the flight landed in Phuket.

This is the second time a snake was found onboard an AirAsia plane. The last time a similar incident occurred was in 2022 when a python was spotted onboard a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Sabah. The crew had to re-route the flight to Kuching International Airport in the state of Sarawak because of the snake.