Airport staff remove snake on plane after panicked passengers 'shriek' in fear

A commercial flight descended into panic this week after a snake was found on board.

Passengers reportedly hitched up their feet on their seats and 'shrieked' in horror after a garter snake appeared on the United Airlines flight 2038 shortly after landing at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) on Monday afternoon.

One witness described how cabin crew rushed towards the business class section of the flight from Tampa International Airport (TPA) in Florida to find the reptile slithering towards economy.

Garter snakes, also known as garden snakes, do not carry any venom and are generally harmless to humans.

After the brief interruption, Port Authority staff boarded the flight and successfully removed the snake. Passengers were then permitted to disembark as normal.

Passengers pulled up their feet and began yelling when the harmless garden snake appeared in business class (stock image) (Getty Images)

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesperson Cheryl Ann Albiez told Reuters that the snake was later released into the wild, having travelled 1,120 miles north up the coast of the eastern United States.

There were no injuries, no impact to airport operations, and the plane later departed Newark, she said.

A spokesperson for United Airlines said crew members had "called the appropriate authorities to take care of the situation" after being alerted by passengers.

Port Authority staff went on board to remove the snake, which was later released into the wild (Getty Images)

It is not yet known how snake ended up on the commercial airline flight.

The incident has sparked inevitable online comparisons with the 2006 cult film Snakes on a Plane, where an agent played by Samuel L Johnson attempts to rescue a passenger flight from deliberately released venomous snakes.

An amused commenter on Twitter wrote "I feel like Samuel L Jackson was there somehow", while another joked "it's a slightly different plot than last time."

Other users suggested the escaped snake represented their worst fears, writing: "That’s why there is an emergency door. I’d be outta there."

The incident prompted different feelings in snake lovers however, with one person asking why people were so afraid of a "harmless gardener".

Earlier this year a plane was forced to divert when a snake slithered above passengers' heads through the cabin's overhead lights.

The domestic AirAsia flight AK5748 was travelling from from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau, when passengers and crew spotted the slender reptile working its way through the cabin.

Footage onboard capture announcements being made about an emergency landing at Sarawak, Borneo, as a result of the disruptive reptile.