Tarantula delays flight from Baltimore to Atlanta

An eight-legged creature that escaped in the cargo hold of a passenger flight from BWI to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson global grounded the plane.

Brian Kruse, a spokesman for Delta, told the Baltimore Sun the flight, which should have taken off around 7 p.m., was ordered to remain on the ground while crews ensured there were no other arachnids crawling about.

The baboon tarantula is a species native to East Africa and is popular among spider collectors.

The venom of tarantulas found in the United States is not considered risky or deadly, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, but it might cause allergic reactions.

Delta says the spider was never in the cabin or seen by passengers or flight crew. The search did not yield any other spider. Durrant added that the spider came from a cargo shipment of insects that was breached, reports CNN.

Morgan Durrant, another spokesman of Delta, explains, “Flight crew made the decision to fly to Atlanta on another aircraft out of an abundance of caution and the Captain explained the situation to our customers”.

While the traveling tarantula didn’t make it out of the cargo area, The Sun reported passengers were told to clear the plane, which was put out of service for the night so it could be thoroughly searched.