Sneaky rat scurries onboard commercial plane, disrupting travel for days

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Passenger panic as rat, wild animal get loose aboard plane

An otter and rat that were smuggled in a passenger’s hand luggage sparked chaos when they escaped mid-air and bit an air hostess’s hand. (SOURCE: ViralPress)

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Sri Lanka’s national airline said a plane was grounded for three days after a rat was spotted onboard during a flight.

SriLankan Airlines officials confirmed with Fox News Digital that a rat was spotted onboard an Airbus A330-300 during a flight from Lahore, Pakistan to Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Thursday, Feb. 22.

The plane was grounded for three days in the Sri Lankan capital while the aircraft was sprayed with rat poison.

Technicians from the airline also checked the aircraft wiring for rodent damage.

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A SriLankan Airlines Airbus 330-300 landing at Frankfurt Rhein-Main international Airport. SriLankan Airlines is the flag carrier of Sri Lanka and a member airline of the Oneworld airline alliance. (Fabrizio Gandolfo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The airline said that they could not fly the plane before the stowaway rat was accounted for. 

“The plane could not be flown without making sure that the rat was accounted for,” the airline said. “It was found dead.”

Officials said the plane is back in operation, but delays are still happening due to the three days it was out of service at the small national airline.

The otter, one of two found aboard the plane to Taiwan, after it was captured on the cabin floor. (ViralPress)

The news of the rambunctious rat comes just months after a rat and an otter terrorized passengers who were traveling from Bangkok to Taiwan.

The mayhem erupted on the low-cost VietJet Air flight after a flight attendant noticed an albino rat and a nearly 1-foot-long otter scurrying around on the floor.

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A subsequent police search of the vessel also located a box containing 28 live turtles, a snake, one marmot, two otters and two other rodents of unknown species among the luggage upon landing in Taipei. 

A passenger records a video of the otter after airline staff were alerted to its presence. (ViralPress)

Police said that a female passenger allegedly smuggled the creatures through security at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Thailand.

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The woman faced a $31,000 penalty for the smuggling operation.

Fox News’ Peter Aitken contributed to this report.

Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. 

She is a native of Massachusetts and is based in Orlando, Florida.

Story tips and ideas can be sent to sarah.rumpf@fox.com and on X: @s_rumpfwhitten.