In South Africa, a pilot found a venomous cobra under his seat during a flight and made a quick emergency landing. He was on a domestic flight between two small towns with four passengers in a small plane when he felt something cold on his leg, local newspaper Times Live reported.
When pilot Rudolph Erasmus looked down, he saw the cobra curled up under his seat, he said, according to the newspaper. A cobra bite has life-threatening, neurotoxic effects that can result in death within 30 minutes to four hours.
Erasmus was hailed by colleagues on Wednesday as a hero with iron nerves. After a moment of bewilderment, he informed the passengers about the planned emergency landing, Erasmus said. Above all, he didn’t want to panic. At the time, the plane was at an altitude of 3,300 meters.
After a few minutes, the Beechcraft Baron, a twin-engine piston aircraft, touched down safely on the runway in the small town of Welkom. The passengers were slowly disembarked and taken to safety. In the meantime, however, the “uninvited guest” was able to escape and is still being sought, according to Erasmus.
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