An Alaska Airlines plane returned to a terminal at Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday night after a woman onboard was stung by a scorpion, witnesses and airline officials said.
Flight 567, destined for Portland, Oregon, was preparing for takeoff at 7:50 p.m. when the animal stung the female passenger on the hand, said Cole Cosgrove, spokesman for the airline.
Paramedics boarded the plane while it remained on a runway and treated the woman, Cosgrove said, adding that she declined additional medical attention.
“No one seemed frantic at all, not even the woman who was stung. The flight attendants did a great job, as did the captain,” Mike Parker, a passenger on the flight and sports announcer for Oregon State University, told CNN.
The OSU men’s basketball team, which had suffered a 68-55 loss to the USC Trojans earlier Saturday, was also onboard the plane, as was the Portland State University women’s basketball team.
The scorpion was located and killed by crew members, according to Cosgrove. Maintenance workers checked the aircraft to ensure there were no other such animals present, the spokesman said.
The plane, which had arrived from Los Cabos, Mexico, departed LAX about 40 minutes after the incident.
The injured woman remained in Los Angeles, according to the airline.
The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.