Australia - Python winging it

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PASSENGERS on a flight from Australia to Papua New Guinea were shocked to look out their cabin windows to see a huge snake on the wing of the plane.

The three-meter-long non-poisonous Amethystine python appeared about an hour into the Qantas flight between Cairns in northern Queensland and the Papua New Guinean capital of Port Moresby on Thursday.

The stowaway, also known as a scrub python, was believed to have crawled onto the plane from scrubland surrounding the airport in Cairns.

The Bombardier Q400 was cleared to resume flying after it landed in Port Moresby. However, the snake was found to be dead on arrival.

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