A woman's scorpion sting made headlines over the weekend after she was stung in perhaps the least likely of places - on an airplane.
The unnamed woman was on a Portland, Oregon-bound flight preparing for takeoff at Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday when she was bitten by a scorpion, Alaska Airlines spokesman Cole Cosgrove told the Associated Press.
The taxiing aircraft returned to the gate and paramedics arrived to treat the passenger who was stung on the hand. She declined further medical attention, but did not get back on the plane.
Witnesses said the woman, who stomped the poisonous creature to death, didn't panic during the incident.
"The woman was a real champ," Oregon State University Coach Wayne Tinkle, who was on the plane with the men's basketball team, told ESPN. "She acted like it was a mosquito bite. They got it off her, but the needle was suck."
Coach Tinkle was just two rows behind the woman that was stung. Paramedics have just come aboard. pic.twitter.com/BPWQjkoxVi
— Mike Parker (@MEPOSU) February 15, 2015
Flight attendants combed the aircraft for additional scorpions but none were found, Cosgrove told the AP. Flight 567 took off an hour behind schedule at 8:40 p.m.
It remains unclear exactly how the scorpion crawled its way onto the airplane. Cosgrove said the fight originated in Los Cabos, Mexico, where the arachnids are common.
