Mouse halts Hong Kong to Nepal flight

A Nepal Airlines Boeing 757 was grounded at Hong Kong's airport after a mouse sneaked into the cockpit, the airline said Wednesday.
 
The Kathmandu-bound flight, due to take off Tuesday evening, had to be cancelled after a mouse was reportedly spotted by pilots before departure, holding up the 84 passengers waiting to board the flight.
 
By Wednesday afternoon, the creature was still on the loose aboard the aircraft.
 
"Oh yes, a mouse - they found in the cockpit," Sita Gurung, the general manager of the Nepal's flag carrier at its Hong Kong office told AFP.
 
"The mouse has not been caught yet, but efforts are under way to take care of it," she said, adding that the airline has placed mouse traps on the plane.
 
Gurung said the plane would have to remain at the airport while the hunt for the furry visitor continues.
 
"We have made arrangements for all of the affected passengers to stay at hotels in Hong Kong," she said, adding that the 84 will flown out on other airlines if the aircraft is not ready, without giving a time frame.
 
The incident is the second embarrassment for the Nepali airline this week, after the same plane was reportedly grounded for over 11 hours at Kathmandu Tribhuvan International Airport on Monday - also due to a mouse.
 
During Monday's incident, all 133 passengers on board the Bangkok-bound flight were evacuated after a mouse jumped out from a box of drinks, according to Nepal-based newspaper Republica.
 
But officials said the mouse in the two incidents was not the same one.
 
"Our engineers have photographs of the mouse that was found dead stuck to sticky glue used as a trap," airline spokesman Raju Bahadur KC told the paper, referring to the earlier mouse.

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