A snake on a plane has left hundreds of passengers stranded overnight in Sydney.
The eight-inch (20cm) Mandarin rat snake was discovered by staff in the doorway of a Qantas 747 jet due to leave Sydney for Tokyo.
The reptile was spotted just before passengers began boarding.
Some 370 passengers were booked on the flight but all had to spend Sunday night in Sydney hotels thanks to the slippery customer.
Australia's Agriculture Department said the snake, a species that grows to an average length of 1.2 metres (4ft), had been euthanised "as exotic reptiles of this kind can harbour pests and diseases not present in Australia".
The department said the snake had arrived aboard the jet in a flight a day earlier from Singapore.
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