Mouse on Nepal Airlines jet delays Hong Kong flight

A Nepal Airlines Boeing 757 has been grounded at Hong Kong’s airport after a mouse was seen in the cockpit, an airline official has told the BBC.

Passengers face a second night in a hotel as efforts continue to trap the stowaway rodent.

Nepal Airlines General Manager Sita Gurung said that the plane would have to remain in Hong Kong until the mouse was caught.

The airline said that the mouse posed a potential safety risk.

Ms. Gurung said that it was capable of chewing the aircraft’s cables and could unsettle some passengers.

The incident is the second embarrassment for the Nepalese airline this week, after the same plane was reportedly grounded for more than 11 hours at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport on Monday – also because of a mouse.

A similar incident happened in August in the Swedish capital Stockholm, when a mouse on board an SAS Airbus meant that 250 passengers were left stranded.

Two Delta Airlines flights from New York to London were cancelled in November 2009 after mouse sightings.