TV star casually springs into action after snake appears on plane

Passengers on a plane narrowly avoided recreating a Hollywood horror movie after a snake was discovered shortly before they took off.

On Thursday morning local time, a Virgin flight was scheduled to take off from the town of Broome in Western Australia when someone yelled out that they had spotted a snake on board.

Despite the unsettling discovery, passengers were apparently quite calm and were more annoyed by the fact they were told they’d have to disembark while the unwelcome stowaway was dealt with.

Luckily for them though, a TV star on board sprung into action and managed to remove the snake himself.

Andre Rerekura, who stars on the Disney Plus series Shipwreck Hunters Australia, simply picked up the reptile after it slithered up to his feet.

Recounting the strange turn of events, he said the plane was preparing to take off when the snake was seen.

A TV star has sprung into action after a snake was discovered on a plane (Picture: Instagram/ andrererekura)

‘They pretty much shut the whole plane down and everyone was going to get disembarked and sent off the plane which we weren’t that keen for because everyone wanted to go home,’ he told ABC.

‘It was a little bit of a weird story to think it was true, to hear that there was a snake on the plane, so I don’t think a lot of people believed it.’

After a lady behind him screamed, the snake moved up the cabin and appeared by him.

Not wasting any time, and seemingly without fear, Andre scooped up the ‘crazy cute’ Stimson’s python, held it to his chest, and took it off board.

‘As soon as I saw it, I identified it pretty easily … so I knew it was safe [and] I knew it was just scared and super shy,’ he added.

Andre Rerekura was praised for his quick thinking(Picture: Instagram/ andrererekura)

Although after he noticed ‘some of the air hostesses were running the other way’ he wanted to ‘get it off real quick’.

After the snake was safely removed, Andre, who had recently been filming a series with sea snakes in the region, was met with cheering when making his way back to his seat.

He went on to say passengers were ‘relieved they didn’t have to get off the plane’, adding they were also ‘happy the snake was safe’.

Although staff offered him a complimentary drink in thanks, Andre said he simply took them up on having a soda water.

He is one of the stars of Disney’s Shipwreck Hunters Australia (Picture: Disney)

After the slight delay of 20 minutes, the plane took off and safely landed in Perth a few hours later.

Stimson’s pythons, which are non-venomous and harmless, are common in the north of Australia and are seen more during the warmer summer months.

In another video shared on social media one of the flight attendants can be heard saying over the intercom: ‘There is never a dull moment in aviation — but that certainly takes the cake.’

She continued: ‘We do have a gentleman onboard who has safely taken it off the aircraft.

Andre described the snake as being ‘cute’ (Picture: Instagram/ andrererekura)

‘We are going to continue as normal — I don’t really know what else to say.’

For those who don’t quite remember the 2006 American action thriller Snakes on a Plane, the movie starred Samuel L. Jackson and followed the events after dozens of venomous snakes are released on a passenger plane in an attempt to kill a trial witness.

Broome International Airport chief executive Craig Shaw told the ABC he was ‘uncertain how the reptile came to be on board’ and directed enquiries to the airline.

As Andre told Channel 10 News: ‘Only in Australia I guess…’

Shipwreck Hunters Australia is streaming on Disney Plus.

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