Snake Discovered and Faraway from Industrial Flight by Disney Star

An Australian TV character sprung into motion after recognizing a reptile in a location that Samuel L. Jackson wouldn’t have been thrilled about.

On Thursday, Nov. 21, Virgin Airways flight VA1482 in Australia was delayed 20 minutes after passengers noticed a wild snake on board, per Australia’s ABC. The flight from Broome to Perth was set to depart at 10:30 a.m. native time however was pushed again after somebody allegedly yelled {that a} snake was on board forward of takeoff, passenger Andre Rerekura instructed the outlet.

Fortunately for these on the flight, Rerekura wasn’t simply any passenger—he is additionally featured in Disney+’s mini-series Shipwreck Hunters Australia, and he instructed ABC that he thought the Stimson’s python that ended up on the aircraft was “cute.” The sequence itself follows divers, filmmakers, and archaeologists as they discover “shipwreck secrets and techniques” in Western Australia, per a synopsis, with Rerekura serving as a water cinematographer.

Whereas eradicating the snake from the aircraft did not require diving, Rerekura nonetheless took on the wildlife problem.

“They stunning a lot shut the entire aircraft down, and everybody was going to get disembarked and despatched off the aircraft, which we weren’t that eager for as a result of everybody needed to go residence,” Rerekura instructed ABC. “It was somewhat little bit of a bizarre story to suppose it was true, to listen to that there was a snake on the aircraft, so I do not suppose lots of people believed it.”

After a girl behind Rerekura screamed — and because the Disney star noticed the snake slither by his foot— he grabbed the reptile, took it off the plane, and was met with applause from these round him when he returned after releasing it.

Footage shared to Rerekura’s Instagram Story exhibits him waving a fist within the air as passengers cheer and as a flight attendant says over the aircraft’s intercom that “there’s by no means a boring second in aviation.”

“I believe everybody was relieved that they did not need to get off the aircraft, after which lots of people had been pleased that the snake was protected,” he instructed ABC. “The employees had been superior. They gave me a complimentary drink, I had a soda water.”

A spokesperson for Virgin Australia Airways confirmed to PEOPLE {that a} non-venomous snake was discovered and faraway from the aircraft’s cabin. Following the snake’s elimination, the flight continued on as deliberate.

Broome Worldwide Airport chief government Craig Shaw instructed ABC he was “unsure how the reptile got here to be” on board. “Our employees assisted within the elimination of the reptile, and there was minimal disruption to the service,” he stated.

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This Australian flight was removed from the primary time anyone discovered a snake on a aircraft. In 2023, a pilot in South Africa made an emergency touchdown after a venomous Cape cobra appeared in his cockpit. In April 2024, a passenger at Miami Worldwide Airport tried to sneak a bag of snakes, which he hid in his pants, on a flight earlier than the snakes had been turned over to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fee.

As for the kind of snake noticed on Rerekura’s flight, a Stimson’s python “inhabits the most important vary of another Australian python species,” per the Australian Museum. Additionally it is a “widespread species to be stored in captivity,” with its bites usually being “food-related” slightly than “aggressive.”