A cobra that stowed away on a commercial plane forced a South African pilot to make an emergency landing last Monday without any of the four passengers suffering any damage, neither he nor the dangerous snake, local authorities reported this Friday. .
The reptile had hidden under his seat and it was he himself who detected its presence when the device was on the route between Bloemfontein and Pretoria, in the center of the country. After giving the alarm signal, the pilot managed to land safely at Welkom, halfway along his route, and evict the unexpected passenger, who has turned out to be one of the most poisonous specimens of his species.
"I would like to congratulate Rudolf Erasmus on the courageous decisions he made and the way he handled what could have been a major air incident," said South African Civil Aviation Authority Director Poppy Khoza. a dangerous situation and managed to land the plane without any danger to himself or his passengers, proving to the world that he is a premier ambassador for aviation safety."
Rudolf Erasmus has declared to the local media that he realized the presence of the snake when he felt something cold on his back. "At first I thought it was my water bottle... but then I realized it was something else and I didn't move," he told News24.
Cobras are generally found in southwestern South Africa and are particularly venomous, killing their victims if not treated immediately.
