Who needs “snakes on a plane” when you have “eels on the apron?” I’m guessing this incident may have caused some last minute menu changes at a Japanese restaurant…
Vancouver Airport’s strange eel incident
While details of this incident are fairly limited, we do know that it took place on Monday, July 8, 2024, at Vancouver International Airport (YVR). In a video shared on social media, you can see cargo either being loaded onto or off an aircraft (it’s not entirely clear in which direction it’s headed).
However, the operation stops, as some of the “live cargo” escapes from a box. Specifically, a huge number of eels are suddenly seen on the apron, with more escaping from the box. It’s unknown how exactly the eels got loose from the box.
I’m curious what caused this incident. Was the cargo correctly labeled as fragile based on its contents, and the ramp staff just weren’t careful with how they handled the box? Or did someone not declare what was in the box, so it wasn’t handled properly?
At first I had assumed these were snakes, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. As you can see, they’re not actually moving much, and it seems like they were in water in the box, and that spilled onto the apron. As someone with an irrational fear of snakes, I’m not sure if that’s reassuring, or just makes me reconsider my future dining selection at Japanese restaurants…
At least this wasn’t a “snakes on a plane” incident
It’s interesting to see an incident not involving snakes for once, since we do sometimes see those. When those incidents occur, it’s typically where a snake somehow makes its way onto a plane.
Just to look at a few other incidents that we’ve seen, in February 2022, a snake was discovered in the lighting panel on an AirAsia Airbus A320 flying from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Tawau (TWU). The plane ended up diverting to offload the non-ticketed creature. I guess a silver lining here was that the snake was behind a panel.
Meanwhile in November 2016, a snake was discovered in the overhead console on an Aeromexico Embraer E190 flying from Torreón (TRC) to Mexico City (MEX). The plane continued its flight, was captured by passengers, and was removed upon landing.
Back in 2013, a 10-foot python hitched a ride on the wing of a Qantas turboprop flying from Cairns (CNS) to Port Moresby (POM). While the snake managed to stay on the wing for the entire flight, it was found dead upon arrival.
Bottom line
On Monday, ground workers at Vancouver Airport had their hands full, as a large number of eels escaped a box that was being transported into or out of an aircraft cargo hold. It’s not yet known if the ground workers just weren’t careful with the cargo, or if it just wasn’t correctly labeled.
What do you make of this Vancouver Airport snake incident?
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