Dog opens luggage compartment of passenger airliner in midair

A passenger airliner had to perform an emergency landing near Moscow after a dog on board triggered the opening of the luggage compartment of the aircraft.

The commander of a Boeing-737 flying from St. Petersburg to Moscow reported the opening of the luggage compartment when the aircraft was flying at an altitude of about 4,000 meters. The crew carried out an emergency landing, no one was hurt.

Ground services, inspecting the aircraft after the landing, confirmed the opening of the luggage compartment. During the inspection it was established that the accident occurred on account of a small dog that managed to escape from its cage during the flight. The dog ripped the inner lining of the luggage compartment and thus triggered the opening of the front luggage compartment flap.

The luggage compartment did not open completely, the electronic equipment automatically stopped the opening in midair. The dog was alive.

In 2018, customs control officers of Moscow's Domodedovo Airport found 285 lizards, chameleons, cockroaches, beetles and crickets in the backpack of a passenger arriving from Dubai. The man was transporting reptiles and insects in plastic boxes and ampoules; 12 of them died because of incorrect transportation conditions. The passenger said that he bought them for personal use on a market for $150.