Published On: Oct 22, 2010
Last updated on:: Oct 22, 2010
Views: 564
When I went into London today I picked up a copy of the Metro.
I very rarely read anything other than the sports pages on any newspaper as it is usually bad news. Being a Liverpool fan means that even the sports section is bad news at the moment! Though the exit of Hicks and Gillette has provided at least a silver lining! Today I was intrigued to see on the top of the front cover:
"Caught between a croc and a hard place. Astonishing revelation about plane crash that killed British pilot and 19 others.....flight was brought down by a crocodile."
I was curious enough to read the story.
It turns out that on a flight in the Democratic Republic of Congo one of the passengers had managed to smuggle a crocodile on board in a sports bag.
Before I continue the story, let us first consider the comedy aspect of this story - we are either talking about a ridiculously large sports bag for this huge, ferocious beast - or it was a very small croc!
The crocodile escaped, causing all of the passengers and crew to run towards the cockpit, unbalancing the plane and causing it to crash into a house.
The investigation found no mechanical problems on the plane and there was only 1 human survivor. The croc, however, also survived - only to be killed with a machete on the ground!
Whilst it is indeed tragic that people have died in this incident, let us all take a few minutes to consider the plight of the crocodile.
It never asked to be taken out of the wild, it certainly had no vested interest in being taken on a plane, which is most unnatural for the poor beast - experiencing decompression. It was probably more scared and disorientated than any of the humans and, miraculously, it survived a plane crash....... Only to be butchered on the ground by one of the species that caused all of it's in-flight torment.
Since there will be enough people around the world grieving the loss of human life, my thoughts are with the croc. If ever there was a tragic tale then this was it.