OTTER on a plane! Passengers panic when smuggled pet runs free on flight from Bangkok, biting aircrew and sparking chaos as terrified flyers cower on seats

This is the moment an otter and a rat smuggled in a passenger’s hand luggage caused panic after being released on a flight from Bangkok – with the rat brutally biting one of the crew on the hand.

Shocked passengers noticed a giant albino rat with glittering red eyes as they walked to the bathroom on the Airbus A320 flying to Taiwan yesterday afternoon.

Confused flight attendants searched the plane and noticed a second wild creature: a foot-long otter under a seat.

Footage showed the otter rolling onto the floor near one of the seats before crew members frantically tried to resolve the situation, while passengers huddled in their seats watching the chaos unfold.

The crew is seen tying up a black bag that appears to contain at least one of the animals.

The otter is then shown moving around in a container at Taiwan’s airport before being transported.

Shockingly, a box containing 28 live turtles was also found when police searched the plane upon landing in Taipei after the three-hour and 45-minute budget flight operated by Vietnamese airline Viet Jet.

Officials have now launched an investigation into how a Chinese-speaking female passenger allegedly smuggled the creatures through security checkpoints at Thailand’s notoriously corrupt Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

A shocked passenger who filmed the scene said: ‘The flight took off as planned and the pilot ordered the seat belts to be unfastened. I was walking back from the bathroom and my friend whispered softly to me, “There’s a rat on the plane.”

‘I was confused, so he said again: “pet rat, pet rat, it has a white body and it is not small”.

‘I told the cabin crew and they checked the plane. Then they found the big otter under one of the chairs. They continued to look for the white rat and an employee caught the rat. He bit their hands as they carried him back to the kitchen at the back of the plane.”

The cabin crew reportedly made an announcement ordering anyone who had brought animals on the plane to come forward.

The person filming said several seats were searched before a Chinese passenger “asked for a refund” and admitted the animals were hers.

Staff then called on a passenger who “spoke fluent Chinese” to help them discuss the situation with the woman, who is believed to have bought the creatures at a market in the Thai capital.

The filmmaker, who did not want to be named, said “every bag” was searched when the plane landed at Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport.

Police found a bag allegedly containing 28 star tortoises, a snake, a marmot, two otters and two other unknown rodents. The creatures were seen being removed from the aircraft.

The Taoyuan Department of the Ministry of Defense Inspectorate said yesterday that the star tortoises will be kept in quarantine and the rest will be sent to Pingtung University of Science and Technology for confirmation before being removed.

Police said the suspect was being questioned and a fine of up to NT$1 million (£25,532) could be imposed in accordance with the provisions of the Prevention and Control of Animal Infectious Diseases.

Officers said they did not know how the animals were brought onto the plane. The passenger who allegedly smuggled them onto the plane “did not cooperate.”