The slithery stowaway has still not been caught - it was spotted by a cleaner after the plane landed at Gatwick

03:27, Wed, Jun 10, 2026 Updated: 03:37, Wed, Jun 10, 2026

Air Traffic at Zakynthos International Airport

A TUI Airways aircraft (file image) (Image: Getty)

Passengers aboard a flight to the UK experienced something out of a horror movie - literally.

A snake escaped on a packed TUI flight from Mexico to the UK and slithered around the cabin.

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None of the 345 passengers on board noticed the scaly stowaway, thought to be a "mildly venomous" mock viper.

It was found by a cleaner shortly after landing at Gatwick on Friday, June 5.

An airport worker took a photograph of the reddish-brown snake, thought to have been smuggled on at Cancun, before it disappeared.

A plane cleaner spotted the snake

A plane cleaner spotted the snake (Image: Unknown)

Engineers and animal experts have tried to find it on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, which had to be taken out of service, but the reptile is still missing.

The flight remains grounded.

The Sun reported that a source said: "It beggars belief that a passenger brought the mock viper on board."

"It's not known what damage the snake could do to the mechanics of the plane."

"The sight of the snake almost gave the airline cleaners a heart attack. But by the time they had raised the alarm the animal had disappeared."

"There was no way the airliner could be allowed to take off again."

Brussels International Airport Aviation

A TUI Airways aircraft (file image) (Image: Getty)

"If passengers had seen the snake at 30,000ft there would have been blind panic and pandemonium on board."

The incident is reminiscent of the 2006 horror film "Snakes on a Plane" in which an FBI agent is forced to take charge of a passenger aircraft after a gangster releases venomous snakes on the flight to stop a witness from testifying against him.

Sources at TUI said finding the serpent is like "trying to find a needle in a haystack".

The airline was adhering to International Civil Aviation Organisation guidelines.