An Air India aircraft was grounded on Monday evening amid large presence of rats that posed a serious threat to the plane, the Times of India reported.

It said that the crew observed many rats running around in the rear half of the Airbus A-321 cabin, which flew from Kolkata and landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.

The aircraft was then taken out of service and moved to a remote bay for fumigation by central warehousing corporation personnel to eliminate all the rats on board, the report said.

An aircraft has to be fumigated even if a single rat is observed on the plane.

“Rats on board an aircraft can lead to a catastrophe if they start chewing up electric wires of a fly by wire plane. If that happens, pilots will have no control on any system on board leading to a disaster,” the English daily quoted an unnamed senior commander as saying.

According to the report, the most common way for rats to get on board an aircraft is through catering vans.

- Bernama