Air India rat

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An Air India flight flying from Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam was delayed for 12 hours after a rat was spotted in the cabin.

Flight AI-952 was due to depart at 06:10 a.m. on Sunday but after the rat was spotted passengers were told to disembark the plane— which did not leave until later in the day at 5.30 p.m. according to the Times of India.

The passengers were told to disembark the plane and pest control proceeded to remove the rat and fumigate the plane before the airline let people back on.

According to aviation news site Simple Flying, the presence of rats on flights is a relatively common reason for delays, due to the fear that they may chew and destroy wires on the plane.

A domestic flight in India was delayed for 12 hours after a rat was spotted in the cabin as the flight was about to take off.

Passengers on Air India flight AI-952 from Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam were on due to leave at 6:10 a.m. on Sunday, but were delayed when the rat was spotted prior to the plane taking off.

Air India officials confirmed to the Times of India that the plane was delayed as a result of there being a rat on board.

The hour-long flight's departure from Rajiv Gandhi International was ultimately delayed until 5:30 p.m, according to The Times of India, almost 12 hours after its scheduled departure.

The flight's delay was more than 10 times longer than the flight itself, which covered around 315 miles from the central city of Hyderabad, to Visakhapatnam, which is on India's east coast.

Air India rat

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Business Insider was unable to reach Air India for comment by phone or email Wednesday afternoon.

The passengers were asked to disembark the plane after the rodent was spotted and pest control were called in to remove the rat, according to the Deccan Chronicle.

"The rat was located and trapped. Then the aircraft was fumigated," a representative from Air India told the Deccan Chronicle.

According to aviation news site Simple Flying, the presence of rats on flights is a relatively common reason for delays, due to the fear that they may chew and destroy wires on the plane.

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Similar incidents have occurred on planes from Alaska Airlines, Air Berlin and Air Canada.

The rat incident is the second time in recent months that Air India has faced delays caused by animals. In September, an Air India flight was delayed by two hours after a swarm of bees settled on the cockpit window, obscuring pilots' vision and attacking staff who tried to remove them.

The flight, from Kolkata in India's north east, to Agartala, on the border with Bangladesh, had 136 passengers onboard, including the Bangladeshi information minister.

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