ATLANTA — There weren’t snakes on the plane. Instead, there were maggots.
A U.S. Airways flight from Atlanta to North Carolina on Monday was forced to return to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport after maggots started falling from an overhead bin, according to WSB-TV.
“I felt like they were crawling all over me because it only takes one maggot to upset your world,” The Associated Press quoted one passenger as saying. “And as they’re telling us to stay calm and seated, I see a maggot looking back at me and I’m thinking, ‘These are anaerobic, flesh-eating larvae that the flight attendants don’t have to sit with.’”
The plane did eventually continue to its destination, but was to be taken out of service so it could be fumigated, reports indicate.
“A passenger had brought a container of spoiled meat onto the plane,” WAGA-TV quoted a U.S. Airways spokesman as saying in a statement. “After it was discovered, all passengers were checked to make sure no other carry-on items had been contaminated and the passenger with the spoiled meat was re-accommodated on another airline. The U.S. Airways aircraft continued with its passengers on to Charlotte, where the aircraft has been taken out of service and will be fumigated as precautionary measure.”
Reports didn’t indicate how the spoiled meat went unnoticed.