Scorpion stings man, delays Gulf Air flight at Chennai airport

CHENNAI: A scorpion sting made the travel plans of a Bahrain-bound passenger go awry, and delayed a Gulf Air flight for more than 30 minutes at the Chennai airport on Sunday.

As D Vidyasagar, 47, buckled his seat belt and settled down for the four-hour flight, he did not know what was in store. The plane, with 216 passengers, started to taxi at 9.30pm when he felt a searing pain on his right hand and was shocked to see a scorpion crawl out of his shirt. It stung once again, this time on his thumb.

This triggered a commotion on board as passengers detected the scorpion and killed it. As Vidyasagar felt uneasy, the airline crew did not want to take a chance. The pilot was informed, the plane was stopped and pushed back and the passenger deplaned and moved to the airport's medical centre.

'Scorpion may have been trapped in victim's shirt'

The unusual incident delayed the flight by more than 30 minutes. It left without the stung passenger after doctors advised him not to travel and moved him to a city hospital for treatment. The sting turned out to be treatable and Vidyasagar, hailing from Andhra Pradesh and settled in Bahrain, was discharged on Monday. He took another Gulf Air flight on Monday night.

"It looks like the scorpion somehow got trapped inside his shirt. He felt a mild pain as he walked into the flight, but ignored it. The scorpion came out when he was seated and the flight was taxiing. The airline decided to bring the plane back because the spot on his hand where he got stung turned reddish and swelled up. He was also feeling uneasy," said an airport official.

The pilot radioed air traffic control and informed a passenger would need medical attention. "This was an unusual incident. We have had rats on board planes, but a scorpion is for the first time," said an official.