A Canadian couple’s holiday in Mexico ended in an unexpected way when a scorpion dropped on them from an overhead locker on Sunday.
Richard and Linda Bell were on an United Airlines flight from Houston to Calgary on Sunday when a inch and a half honey coloured creature fell in Mr Bell’s hair.
“I grabbed it, hanging on its tail. I think that’s what saved me,” he told Global News.
A Mexican man sitting next to the couple on the plane pointed it out was a scorpion and that it was dangerous, Mr Bell said.
“I dropped it on my plate, then I went to pick it up again and that’s when it stung me.”
It “felt like a wasp sting,” he added.
Credit:
Global News
Mr Bell said he then flicked the creature on the floor and the the Mexican man stomped it with a shoe. The airline then threw it in the toilet.
Mrs Bell told the Canadian network that the arachnid reminded her of something else.
“I looked down and I thought, ‘it kind of looks like a little lobster’,” she said.
When the plane landed in Calgary paramedics boarded the plane and they found that Mr Bell showed “no signs of distress”.
United spokesman Charles Hobart told CNBC that the airline crew immediately consulted with a physician on the ground who provided guidance throughout the incident. The company said the man’s injuries were non-life threatening.
“The pilot announced it,” passenger John Rogers told Global News. “Because the passenger was bitten, emergency services, the fire department and police boarded the plane.”
The Canadian man, who flies 150,000 miles a year with United, said he is “a little astonished” the airline has not contacted him directly about the incident.
United Airlines told Global News it was looking into the situation.
The news came after United sparked outrage earlier this week when a video surfaced of a passenger being dragged off an overbooked flight in Chicago.
United CEO Oscar Munoz said he felt “ashamed” watching a video of David Dao being forced off the aircraft.
New Video Shows United Passenger Moments Before He Was Pulled Off Flight 3411
00:19