Mouse crawling out of meal forces plane to make early landing

A mouse that crawled out of a passenger’s meal forced a Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight to make an unscheduled landing, the company has said.

The incident occurred during Wednesday’s flight from Oslo to Málaga, forcing the plane to land in Copenhagen.

Airlines usually strictly prohibit rodents onboard because the animals can chew through electrical wiring, key to the operation of a plane.

“Believe it or not. A lady next to me ... opened her food and a mouse jumped out,” wrote one passenger, Jarle Borrestad, on his Facebook page, along with a photograph showing him smiling next to two other women, also smiling.

A spokesperson for SAS, Oystein Schmidt, said that “in line with our procedures, there was a change of aircraft” and the passengers were flown to Málaga, Spain, on another flight.

“This is something that happens extremely rarely,” he said of the incident.

“We have established procedures for such situations, which also include a review with our suppliers to ensure this does not happen again.”