Pythons Escape on Australian Passenger Flight

MELBOURNE, Australia :- Four baby pythons escaped from a container aboard a passenger plane in Australia, leading to a search that forced the cancellation of two flights, the airline said Thursday.

Qantas was forced to ground one of its fleet this week while wildlife experts tried to hunt down the snakes.Boeing 737 had returned to service but admitted that four missing pythons were still at large. A spokesman conceded that the serpents could still be on the plane but insisted they were unlikely to emerge from behind anyone’s seat-back tray table on subsequent flights because the airliner had been fumigated.

Twelve baby Stimpson’s pythons were put on board a flight from Alice Springs to Melbourne but when the boxes were unloaded at the other end only eight snakes were found inside.

When the snakes were not found, the airplane was fumigated and it returned to service on Wednesday.