A beautiful two-week vacation in Mexico came to an unexpected — and creepy — end for a Calgary couple.
Richard and Linda Bell were on United Airlines flight 1418 going home from Houston when a feisty, eight-legged creature showed up.
The scorpion fell in Richard’s hair from an overhead bin. Linda said it reminded her of something else entirely.
“I look down and I thought, ‘aw, it kind of looks like a little lobster.'”
The creature was about an inch-and-a-half long, and honey-coloured.
A man sitting next to them on the plane pointed it out was a scorpion — and dangerous.
WATCH: Calgary EMS cannot say 100 per cent that a passenger was bitten by a scorpion on a flight that landed in Calgary.
Richard dropped it on his plate, then picked it up again. That’s when it stung him.
It “felt like a wasp sting,” he said.
The scorpion was likely a stowaway in someone’s luggage. Another passenger on the flight stomped on the creature before it was thrown in a toilet.
READ MORE: Vancouver woman stung by scorpion while she was sleeping in Coal Harbour apartment
Richard said that was the “worst thing to do because when we landed everyone wanted to see it.”
The Bells used Google to find any information on scorpions, and whether their stings could be poisonous.
Emergency personnel came aboard when the plane landed in Calgary.
“The pilot announced it,” passenger John Rogers said. “Because the passenger was bitten, emergency services, the fire department and police boarded the plane.”
EMS spokesperson Adam Loria said that the individual who encountered the scorpion showed “no signs of distress” and that he declined medical treatment.
But the experience still made for one flight that the Bells won’t soon forget.
United Airlines told Global News it is looking into the situation.
Comments