Not snakes, but lizards escaped on our flight: Garuda Indonesia

Garuda Indonesia denies there were snakes loose on board one of its flight, as they were instead indigenous legless lizards that managed to get out of the cargo compartment, an official of the company said Wednesday. Three of the lizards escaped the airplane's cargo compartment during a flight from Merauke, Papua, to Jakarta on Tuesday, Garuda’s VP of corporate communications, Benny S. Butarbutar, said. "The animal physically looks like a snake, but after an examination and checking of the documents, they are lizards and not snakes," he said. The lizard was of the Lialis burtoni species, commonly called legless lizards, Benny said. The airline acknowledged its plane was carrying a cargo of live animals in a wooden box that had air holes and was covered in a sack. The cabin crew caught the lizards and secured them immediately. No flight disruptions were caused by the incident, Benny said.<br/>