Rat sighting delays Air India flight from Sharjah to Thiruvananthapuram

Sharjah: An Air India flight from Sharjah to Thiruvananthapuram in the Indian state of Kerala was delayed for more than 22 hours Friday after a crew member claimed to have seen a rat on board.

Keeping with safety protocols, a complete inspection of flight AI 968 was carried out, but officials failed to locate any evidence of a rodent.

The flight carrying over 170 passengers was scheduled to depart from Sharjah at 12.05am and reach Thiruvananthapuram at 5.40am.

Sashank, a passenger scheduled to fly to Thiruvananthapuram tweeted:

The flight was expected to depart at 10.15pm and later notified as cancelled by a flight tracking service.

A spokesperson from Air India confirmed to Gulf News that flight AI 968 was being prepared for departure when the rodent incident happened.

“Rats onboard an aircraft can lead to a catastrophe if they start chewing electric wires,” a senior commander said.