A Delta Air Lines flight headed from Amsterdam to Detroit on Tuesday had to turn around after maggots rained down on passengers from an overhead bin, according to CNN.
The source of the maggots turned out to be a rotten fish that had been placed in the overhead bin.
In a statement, Delta apologized to its passengers: “Their trip was interrupted due to an improperly packed carry-on bag. The aircraft returned to the gate and passengers were placed on the next available flight. The aircraft was removed from service for cleaning.”
WJBK interviewed passenger Philip Schotte, a Netherlands native now living in Iowa, who said he saw about a dozen of the creatures on a woman sitting next to him.
“She was freaking out. She was just trying to kind of fight off these maggots. … I don’t really know what was going through my mind. I was trying to process it – disgust is one thing of course. We had to wait there for help to actually come,” Schotte told the station.
Schotte said the flight crew eventually traced the maggots to a passenger’s bag, which contained rotten fish wrapped in newspaper.
As the bag was moved to the back of the plane, it was announced the plane was going back to Amsterdam.
According to a person who said they were a passenger on the plane, all the passengers were allegedly given 8,000 free air miles, hotel room compensation and a $30 meal ticket for the inconvenience.