New Delhi: In a rare incident, a woman passenger was bitten by a scorpion onboard an Air India flight from Nagpur to Mumbai last month.
On landing at the airport, the passenger was attended by a doctor, subsequently treated at a hospital and discharged, the airline said in a statement on Saturday.
Air India said there was an “extremely rare and unfortunate incident involving a scorpion biting a passenger onboard our flight AI 630 on April 23, 2023”.
“There was an extremely rare and unfortunate incident involving a scorpion stinging a passenger on board our flight AI 630 on April 23, 2023,” an Air India spokesperson told ANI.
“On landing the said passenger was attended by the doctor at the airport and subsequently was treated at the hospital and discharged. Our officials accompanied the passenger to the hospital and offered all support to the passenger till discharge,” an AI spokesperson said.
The statement added that after the incident, Air India’s engineering team carried out a thorough inspection of the aircraft and found the scorpion.
“Our team followed the protocol and conducted a complete inspection of the aircraft and found the scorpion after which due fumigation process was carried out. We sincerely regret the agony and inconvenience caused to the passenger,” Air India said.
After the incident, an Air India official stated that Air India requested the catering department to advise the dry cleaners to inspect their facilities for any infestation of bed bugs. If required, the facilities should undergo fumigation because there is a possibility that the bugs might enter the aircraft through the supplies. This is not the first time such incidents have occurred.
Previously, there have been cases where reptiles were discovered onboard aircraft. One such incident occurred in December of the previous year when a snake was found in the cargo hold of an Air India Express plane from Calicut after it landed at the Dubai airport.
