Scorpion(s) on a Plane!

United Airlines Passenger Claims to be Stung by Scorpion on U.S. Flight to Calgary, Alberta

United Airlines is having a worse week than you.

Scorpions are typically found in the southern United States, thriving in warm, dry climates. So, imagine the surprise of a Canadian man on his way back to Calgary from Houston when he encountered one 36,000 feet in the air.  

Another passenger warned the man, identified as Richard Bell, of the pest, according to CNN.

Bell was soon informed that this wasn’t your everyday type of harmless-yet-annoying pest; it was a scorpion. Of the more than 2,000 species of scorpions, only about 30 can deliver enough venom to cause serious or lethal damage to an adult human.

Fortunately for Bell, who claims he was in fact stung, this particular scorpion wasn’t one of those 30, but the act alone was enough to give him quite the scare.

Emergency medical personnel met Bell on the plane upon the flight’s arrival in Calgary. While Bell was deemed to be in good health, he was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

The scorpion likely boarded the flight as stow-away in another passenger’s luggage and was ultimately flushed down the toilet as an extreme emergency ejection from the flight.