A passenger on a United Airlines flight was stung by a scorpion that apparently fell out of an overhead bin.
Richard Bell was flying with his wife, Linda, from Houston to Calgary on Sunday when the encounter occurred.
“While I was eating, something fell in my hair from the overhead above me,” Bell told the CBC.
He pulled it off his head when another passenger told him the scorpion was dangerous.
“So I dropped it on my plate and then I went to pick it up again, and that’s when it stung me,” Bell said. “It got my nail, mostly.”
The scorpion was likely a stowaway, the CBC reported.
United told CNBC that the flight crew contacted a physician on the ground to provide guidance and medical personnel met the aircraft after it arrived in Calgary,
Although the sting was not considered life-threatening, Bell told Global News it felt like a wasp sting. He said another passenger stomped on the scorpion and flushed it down the toilet, which was the “worst thing to do because when we landed everyone wanted to see it.”
Linda Bell told CNN that the airline apologized and offered the couple compensation, but did not give any details.
The incident took place on the same day a passenger on a different flight was violently dragged off a United plane to make room for an employee. Outrage over United’s actions have prompted calls for a boycott and turned the company into the butt of late-night jokes. The fallout has also caused United’s stock to plunge.