Snakes on a Plane! Pilot Makes Emergency Landing After Finding Deadly Cobra in the Cockpit

The plane's pilot said that the snake had been spotted under the aircraft before the wild flight

A pilot in South Africa got the surprise of his life when he found a lethal "voyager" on one of his flights.

Pilot Rudolph Erasmus told the BBC that on a recent private plane flight between South African cities Bloemfontein and Pretoria — at about 11,000 feet in the air — he felt something cool crawling up his shirt. At first, the pilot assumed water had spilled onto his shirt from a leaking water bottle but discovered the source of the feeling to be something far freakier.

"As I turned to the left and looked down, I saw the cobra [...] receding its head backwards underneath the seat," Erasmus told the outlet. "To be truly honest, it's as if my brain did not register what was going on."

The snake Erasmus found himself sharing the cockpit with was a venomous Cape cobra — a snake with a bite that can kill someone in as quickly as 30 minutes, according to the University of San Diego.

Related:Snake Handler in South Texas Dies After Being Bitten by a Rattlesnake

Erasmus told the BBC that he didn't want to cause panic among the four passengers in the private plane, a Beechcraft Baron 58, so he opted to keep it light at first, telling them that there was "an extra unwanted voyager" onboard before later breaking the severity of the news.

"I did inform the passengers: 'Listen, the snake is inside the aircraft, it's underneath my seat, so let's try and get down to the ground as soon as we can,'" he said. "You could hear a needle drop, and I think everyone froze for a moment or two."

After finding the deadly reptile and informing his passengers, Erasmus made an emergency landing in the South African city of Welkom, which is located about 202 miles away from the flight's destination, Pretoria.

All aboard made it safely out. Erasmus was lauded by Poppy Khosa, a South African civil aviation commissioner, for his quick thinking and "great airmanship," which "saved all lives on board," per South Africa's News 24.

RELATED Video: Florida Homeowner Calls Snake Catchers for Help After 'Huge' Boa Constrictor Slithers into Yard

Erasmus added to the BBC that he wanted to credit "my passengers that remained calm as well."

The Cape cobra that ended up on Erasmus' flight was spotted by two pilots in the Worcester flying club at the airport before Erasmus' plane took off, per the BBC. The pilots saw the snake slithering underneath Erasmus' plane and tried to "grab it" but were unsuccessful.

Erasmus said he had also looked for the creature before taking flight.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

"Unfortunately, it was not there, so we all then safely assumed that it must have crawled out overnight or earlier that morning, which was on Monday," he told the outlet.

As for the snake, it is still at large. Erasmus told the BBC that engineers stripped the plane after he completed his emergency landing, but no one has found the Cape cobra stowaway.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.