AirAsia jet from Kuala Lumpur makes emergency landing after passengers spot snake

Bringing the worst fear of air travellers to reality, an Air Asia flight from Kuala Lumpur was diverted after a snake was spotted slithering in the flight's overhead luguagge compartment. The domestic flight from the Malaysian capital was bound for Tawau, Sabah when it was forced to make an emergency landing in Kuching, Sarawak, some 1,500 kilometres away from its original destination. Pictures and videos of the snake crawling through the overhead light went viral on the internet.

The incident was described as "very rare" by the airline safety officer Liong Tien King. Speaking to Malay Mail, he said, "as soon as the captain was updated about the occurrence of a reptile onboard, he decided to divert the flight to Kuching as a precautionary to fumigate the aircraft." He added, "this is a very rare incident which can occur on any aircraft from time to time."

Meanwhile, the authorities were not able to confirm the species of the snake that creeped passengers out on the Air Asia flight. However, only 18 types of snakes out of 140 variants in Malaysia are venomous in nature, as per the Malaysian Medical Gazette.

Netizens all-too-reminiscent of 2006 movie

The video of the snake on the illuminated area overhead went viral, with one video hitting over 2 million views. Social media users were quick to compare the situation with the 2006 cult classic Snakes on the Plane. The Samuel M. Jackson starrer showed people trapped in a flight filled with venomous replies. "For our friends at @airasia, congratulations on the surprise of bringing back overhead entertainment classic Snakes on a Plane from all of us at @theAPEXassoc and @IFSAOnBoard!  I wish that I had been on the flight because I know the exact @SamuelLJackson quote for the moment!" one user wrote. "The movie just got real," joked another.

In a statement to CNN Turk, Air Asia confirmed that no passenger was injured in during the "rare incident." The chief security officer added, "At no time was the safety of guests or crew at any risk." The passengers later continued their journey to Tawau from Kuching on the same day.

(Image: Unsplash (representative)