Flight diverted after mouse found onboard in passenger’s in-flight meal

This story was updated to add new information.
Imagine finding an uninvited four-legged rodent passenger onboard your plane. That’s what happened on a Scandinavian Airlines flight. The flight had to be diverted after a mouse booked a trip to Málaga, Spain from Oslo, Norway.  
On Wednesday the flight headed to Spain had to make a landing in Copenhagen, Denmark after discovering the furry traveler.
“We made a very normal landing (not an emergency landing which has been wrongly stated in some media) in Copenhagen in order to change aircraft and catering – which is a fully normal procedure when a rodent is found onboard,” Alexandra Lindgren Kaoukji, a Scandinavian Airlines spokesperson, said in a statement to USA TODAY.
According to protocol and procedures, the plane had to make the diversion for an “inspection and fumigation” process and to transport the passengers onboard to another aircraft, Lindgren Kaoukji said.
“In these cases, we have very clear procedures to follow, including full inspection of the aircraft and of all our suppliers’ processes to see what needs to be improved or changed in order to avoid scenarios like these in the future,” she said.
Lindgren Kaoukji said after landing in Denmark, the furry flyer reached their departure. Other passengers had a two-and-a-half-hour delay but continued their journey to Spain.
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Jarle Borrestad, a passenger on the flight to Málaga, Spain, told the BBC about the rodent’s itinerary while on board the flight.  
Borrestad told the news outlet that the rodent made its debut “from the box of food that the woman sat next to him on the flight was opening.” 
Borrestad told the news outlet that the situation was very calm and that people “were not stressed at all.” 
He even joked about the incident in a Facebook post filled with laughing emojis.  
“Believe it or not. A lady next to me here at SAS Plus opened the food and jumped out a mouse,” the post read. “Now we have turned around and landed at CPH for flight changes.”  
Nonetheless, Borrestad admitted to the BBC that he put his socks over his trousers so the mouse would not crawl up his legs. 
Ahjané Forbes is a reporter on the National Trending Team at USA TODAY. Ahjané covers breaking news, car recalls, crime, health, lottery and public policy stories. Email her at [email protected]. Follow her on Instagram, Threads and X (Twitter) @forbesfineest.