Eating On A Plane, This Flight Crew Finds Snake Head Mixed With Vegetables On The Menu

Illustration of a SunExpress airline. (Wikimedia Commons/Tobias Nordhausen)

JAKARTA - This flight crew may have never imagined before, having lunch during a flight task that should be normal, becomes a 'nightmare' after the severed head of a snake is found in its food.

The crew of the SunExpress airline were known to have eaten most of their meal before the gruesome discovery, with the snake image captured intact.

The sickening video shows how the snake's head was found on a flight from Turkey to Germany last week, at the bottom of a plate of ravioli and leafy greens.

The airline crew was working on an early flight from the Turkish capital Ankara to Dusseldorf on July 21 when the grim discovery made. Taking off at 03:30 a.m. local time in Turkey, the airline with flight number XQ794 traveled three hours 45 minutes to west Germany.

While in the air, the crew sat down to eat breakfast, which apparently consisted of drinks, salad, rolls, and a hot dish of ravioli and vegetables.

The poor flight attendants had already eaten about half of their meal when they found the reptile's head at the bottom of the food container, the Daily Mail reported July 26.

'Disguised' well among the vegetables, the snake's head appeared the size of a large grapefruit and had been cut from its body just below the skull. The few remnants of its body appear dark green or black in color and have distinctive yellow stripes running along its body.

Turkey is known to be home to several dozen species of native snakes, some of which are venomous, though none match those found in flight.

SunExpress said it had suspended its catering company, referred to by local media as Sancak Inflight, until an investigation could be carried out.

This isn't the first time the problem has been flagged with the company's diet, with slugs and mold spotted by staff before, Gazete Duvar reports.

An airline spokesperson said, 'It is our top priority, that the service we provide to our guests on our aircraft is of the highest quality, and that both our guests and employees have a comfortable and safe flight experience.

The allegations and press coverage of the in-flight food service are completely unacceptable and a detailed investigation has been initiated.

'Until the research process is completed, all measures and precautions, including stopping the supply of the relevant product, have been taken immediately.'

However, Sancak's side vehemently denied that the snake's head came from one of its facilities, and said it must have been 'mixed' into the food after it left the factory.

A spokesperson said: 'SunExpress Airlines is a valuable client in our country and a popular airline in Europe, which recently decided to further expand its fleet and route network. They again announced a tender for onboard catering services.

"We do not use any foreign objects that are suspected to be in the food while cooking (due to the technical and thermal conditions used in the in-flight catering facilities)," he stressed.