Plane makes emergency landing as mouse jumps out of passenger's meal

The plane was forced to make an unscheduled stop and land in Copenhagen after a female passenger discovered a mouse in the boxed meal provided to her by the airline

A flight was dramatically diverted after a passenger discovered a live mouse in their meal.

The nightmare-fuelling incident, which took place on Wednesday, prompted an emergency landing, with the Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight from Oslo to Malaga having to stop in Copenhagen.

Passenger Jarle Borrestad recounted the shocking moment on Facebook. "Believe it or not. A lady next to me ... opened her food and a mouse jumped out," Jarle wrote, accompanying his post with a photo of himself and two women, all smiling despite the ordeal.

Borrestad also shared with the BBC that he took precautions against the mouse by pulling his socks over his trousers, but noted that the atmosphere remained calm: "Now we have turned around and landed at CPH [Copenhagen Airport] for flight changes. We were not stressed at all."

The airline explained that the presence of the rodent posed a significant safety risk due to potential damage to the aircraft's electrical systems, as per BBC reports.

Stranded passengers were delayed for a few hours in Copenhagen before resuming their journey to Malaga on another plane. Commenting on the rarity of such events, Oystein Schmidt, spokesperson for SAS, remarked: "This is something that happens extremely rarely. We have established procedures for such situations, which also include a review with our suppliers to ensure this does not happen again."

It was not the first time a loose rodent has caused issues on a plane. In 2017, a British Airways flight at Heathrow airport bound for San Francisco failed to take off when a mouse was spotted onboard, causing a four-hour delay. It is thought finding a replacement aircraft cost BA about £250,000.

Last week a morning train to Gatwick Airport was cancelled when two squirrels boarded and one refused to get off. The "frightened and erratic" animals led many passengers to move to another carriage. The bushy-tailed duo had jumped on the Great Western Railway (GWR) service from Reading to Gatwick on Saturday.