April 24, 2025 | 01:51 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - An EasyJet flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Portugal after a passenger hallucinated seeing snakes in the cabin on Saturday, April 19, 2025.
The man, wearing a snake-patterned shirt, claimed he saw snakes slithering in the aisle, according to a report from The Sun.
The passenger, traveling on flight EZY8705 from London Gatwick to Marrakech, Morocco, repeatedly screamed about the snakes about two and a half hours into the flight. "Snakes on the plane! We need to land!" he shouted.
Due to his panic, the pilots became concerned about the safety of the flight and decided to perform an emergency landing. The plane was diverted to Faro, Portugal, at 05:45 PM. Upon landing, the plane was met by police and emergency services on the tarmac.
Possibly Drunk
A fellow passenger who witnessed the incident said the man appeared very drunk or under the influence of illegal drugs and was hallucinating.
"He was in such a state that he thought the snakes on his t-shirt were real and sliding around the seats," the passenger told The Sun.
"It sounds funny to hear a passenger screaming ‘Snakes on the Plane!’ but it was incredibly scary for the families on the easyJet flight."
"No-one quite knew what was going on, or initially if the flyer had actually seen a snake loose among the cabin at 30,000ft."
The Airbus A320 continued its journey to Marrakesh, landing at 11:00 PM., about eight hours after its departure. Passengers on the return flight from Morocco to London experienced a four-hour delay due to the incident.
An EasyJet spokesperson confirmed that flight EZY8705 from London Gatwick to Marrakesh on April 19 was diverted to Faro because a passenger was behaving disruptively.
“The passenger was met by police upon arrival in Faro. The safety of our customers and crew is always EasyJet's top priority,” the spokesperson said.
Animal-Related Flight Incidents Not Uncommon
While this incident was due to a hallucination, animal-related disturbances during flights are not uncommon. In November, a TAP Air Portugal flight was grounded for four days after more than 130 hamsters escaped in the cargo hold.
Airport staff had difficulty capturing the animals, which had been aboard a flight from Lisbon to Ponta Delgada on São Miguel Island in the Azores.
The hamsters were being sent to a pet shop along with ferrets and birds. It took several days for the airport team to find and capture all of the hamsters hiding and scurrying around the cargo area.
Last year, a small snake caused panic among passengers on a Virgin Airlines flight from Broome to Perth, Australia, on November 21, 2024.
Before takeoff, a passenger alerted the crew about the snake on the plane. The snake was eventually captured. Craig Shaw, CEO of Broome International Airport, told ABC that he had no idea how the reptile ended up aboard the flight.
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