During his flight to Pretoria on Monday, pilot Rudolph Erasmus suddenly felt a cold sensation on his back. At first he thought it was his water bottle. But then he had to realize: it was a deadly poisonous snake that had smuggled itself on board.
The poisonous snake is said to have been a cape cobra – bites from this species can be fatal within 30 minutes. There were four other passengers on board the private plane. At first he didn’t want to worry them, but then decided to let them know and make an emergency landing as soon as possible. Everyone on board tried to stay calm and not panic, the pilot told the BBC. He was finally able to make an emergency landing in the town of Welkom.
The cobra was believed to have boarded at the airport. Two other pilots informed Erasmus at the Worcester Flying Club, where the plane first departed, that they had seen a snake near the parked plane, a Beechcraft Baron 58. According to reports from the “BBC”, the pilot therefore examined the machine before departure and did not see the animal, so he believed that she had moved on in the meantime.
After the emergency landing, according to the South African news site News24, firefighters and a snake catcher were called to capture the animal, but it could not be found.
Sources: BBC, The Guardian, News24
