A Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight from Oslo to Malaga was forced to divert after a live mouse escaped from a passenger’s in-flight meal. The aircraft made an emergency landing in Copenhagen due to the safety threat posed by rodents, and passengers were boarded on a different plane.

Live mouse jumps out of SAS meal

The unusual incident occurred onboard an SAS
Airbus A320neo operating Flight SK4683 from Oslo (OSL) to Malaga (AGP) on Wednesday afternoon. The stowaway mouse is reported to have leaped out of a passenger’s in-flight meal during meal service before scurrying away. Believe it or not, a rodent onboard an aircraft is more dangerous than you’d think given their tendency to chew on wiring.

sas diversion cph

Photo: Flightradar24

According to data from Flightradar24, the plane circled back towards Oslo less than 30 minutes after taking off but then rerouted to Copenhagen (CPH), where it would land less than an hour after departure. Øystein Schmidt, a spokesperson for SAS, commented,

“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.”

According to a Facebook post by passenger Jarle Borrestad, the lady sitting next to him took off the cover of her meal and the mouse simply jumped out. With the crew aware of the fugitive mouse’s presence, the captain announced that they would be diverting to Copenhagen due to the safety threat posed by a rodent onboard the aircraft.

Another SAS spokesperson told People that, as per procedures, the flight diverted “in order to change aircraft and catering.” The spokesperson added that SAS is conducting an investigation into the matter, including “full inspection of the aircraft and of all our suppliers’ processes.”

Passengers deplaned and were accommodated on another A320neo (registration SE-ROR) and would arrive in Malaga at 20:22, representing a delay of just over two hours.

The rodent menace

Rodents are considered a credible threat to the safety of an aircraft – not to forget airports, too – for good reason. Damaging the plane’s electrical wiring could cause any number of problems, while a rodent’s urine is corrosive to metal.

Flypix Scandinavian airlines (SAS) A320NEO coming in to land in with snowy trees in foreground (1)

Photo: Flypix | Shutterstock

They have also been known to cause problems at airports, including an incident at Frankfurt Airport (FRA) last month that shut off power for a few hours – fortunately, the impact was minimal as it occurred during FRA’s night curfew.

As reported by The Guardian, British Airways suffered a similar incident in 2017 when a mouse was spotted onboard a flight waiting to depart London Heathrow. The delay and need for a replacement aircraft is said to have cost BA around £250,000 ($333,000).

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