31.10.06
A cat lost on board a jumbo jet at Manchester Airport delayed a flight from for 26 hours - and cost the airline an estimated £20,000 - the Manchester Evening News reports. The flight could not to leave the airport on the return leg until the cat was found.
The cat, which was discovered wandering loose in the cabin of a Pakistani International Airways (PIA) flight from Karachi, triggered a search and rescue operation after it disappeared minutes before touchdown in Manchester Airport.
While the 270 Karachi-bound passengers flying on the plane's return journey to Pakistan were boarded, the hunt for the lost cat began. But after fruitless attempts by engineers to find it, the passengers, who were scheduled to leave at 14:45 on Friday, were asked to disembark and were taken to an airport hotel for the night.
The technicians worked through the night stripping parts off the plane in a bid to find the animal, which they believed was in the floor area between the cabin and the hold. Eventually, after nearly 24 hours searching, a vet was brought in and managed to coax the cat from its hiding place.
The cat was put into quarantine and the plane was fumigated before the passengers were boarded again. It was able to leave at 16:45 on Saturday - 26 hours late.
A spokesman for Manchester Airport confirmed that the aircraft had been delayed for 26 hours by the cat and said: 'The animal is now in quarantine.' Nobody from PIA was available for comment.
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