- Passengers spotted a snake slithering around in an overhead light fixture on an AirAsia flight, a TikTok video shows.
- The flight from Kuala Lumpur was diverted so the plane could be fumigated, the airline said.
- AirAsia said that snakes appearing on a plane is "very rare."
A domestic AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was diverted on Thursday after passengers spotted a snake on the plane, NPR reported.
A video shared by TikTok user E-dal Tay shows the long snake in an overhead light fixture on the flight to Tawau, Malaysia.
AirAsia confirmed in a statement that the incident took place but stated that it was a "very rare incident."
The airline's chief safety officer Liong Tien Ling told Insider: "As soon as the Captain was aware, he decided to divert the aircraft to Kuching as a precautionary measure to fumigate the aircraft."
He continued: "The Captain took the appropriate action and the flight safely departed for Tawau as soon as possible. The safety and wellbeing of our guests and crew is always our top priority."
The snake injured nobody, the airline said.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia said the incident was handled very well, per the New Straits Times.
The video has been viewed more than two million times on TikTok. Some viewers commented that it was reminiscent of the 2006 Samuel L. Jackson action movie "Snakes on a Plane."
While occurrences of snakes on planes are rare, they're not unheard of. In 2017, a real-life snake on a plane broke loose on a flight to Alaska.