Airbus 320 ‘stranded’ as 132 hamsters have to be recaptured
A TAP Airbus 320 was unable to take off from Ponta Delgada airport in the Azores for four days because of ‘loose hamsters’.
Over 130 of the little rodents ‘came loose from their transport boxes’ in the hold, leaving maintenance teams trying desperately to round them up before they started nibbling at the aircraft cabling.
In the four days following the mass escape, ‘almost all’ the hamsters had been recaptured – but as of yesterday there were still 16 unaccounted for – and the sense of urgency was increasing, as these little mammals are not known for twiddling tiny toes; their whole raison d’être is to nibble at anything that looks interesting…
Correio da Manhã highlights this story today, explaining how the hamster break-out happened.
“The aircraft left Lisbon for Ponta Delgada with passengers and their respective baggage and an order for a pet shop: more than 100 hamsters, ferrets and some birds.
“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”, wrote CM in its Sunday edition. “Sources guarantee 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”.
In between CM’s report and late this morning however, it appears the renegade 16 have finally been plucked from the plane, which is wasting no time in taking off home for Lisbon, and leaving the four day ‘nightmare in hamsterland’ far behind it.
