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A TAP Air Portugal Airbus A320 had to be grounded for four days last week after 132 hamsters got loose in the cargo hold and ran all over the plane. The 132 hamsters, as well as some ferrets and birds, were on board the commercial flight because of an order placed by a pet store.
Luckily for the passengers on flight TP9260, the dozens of escaped hamsters did not cause any damage to the plane’s electrical wires before it landed at Ponta Delgada Airport.
Unfortunately, the 240 passenger capacity plane was unable to return to Lisbon, where it had originated, because it took maintenance workers four to five days to round up the rodents.
Or, well, most of the hamsters. As of Saturday, 16 of the little buggers still hadn’t been found.
According to a report published by Correio da Manha on Sunday, “When the plane landed, baggage handlers noticed that the transportation boxes were damaged, and the rodents had escaped.
“The aircraft has not yet returned to Lisbon. Sources said that the same order had been stopped from loading onto another flight because the transportation boxes were not in a suitable condition, but they were accepted by the subsequent flight.”
Apparently, the 16 rogue hamsters had been unaccounted for, because the plane did finally leave Ponta Delgada Airport and returned to Humberto Delgado Airport in Lisbon at 1:27 p.m. on Sunday.
There has no word as to whether the 132 hamsters were part of a clandestine mission being conducted by G-Force.
Last month, a “super rat” invaded a Spirit Airlines flight and was caught on camera by a passenger on a flight from Dallas, Texas to Los Angeles, California.
Spirit Airlines has since filed for bankruptcy protection. The two events are not believed to have been related. (Or are they?)