Have you ever seen the American movie “Snakes on a plane” and felt a creeping sense of panic at the thought of it happening in real life?
The South African pilot Rudolph Erasmus was 3,000 meters in the air when he realized that the film had become a reality.
The pilot found the cobra under the seat
He was due to fly four passengers between Bloemfontein and Pretoria when he realized a squirming stowaway had boarded.
In an interview with BBC he tells about the experience and how he felt a crawling sensation down his spine.
– When I turned to the left to look down, I saw the cobra pulling its head back under the seat, he says.
Rudolph Erasmus then decided to make an emergency landing. He says that the big fear revolved around whether the snake would get out of the cabin.
A bite from a cobra kills an adult in 30 minutes. In the end, he chose to tell the passengers what had happened.
– You could hear a pin drop and I think everyone just froze for a moment.
However, the horror experience had a happy ending and the plane was able to land without anyone being hurt by the snake.