United hit with fresh controversy as passenger 'stung by scorpion'

The airline sparked outrage on Monday after a passenger was forcibly dragged off flight

While United Airlines continues to face severe pressure over a passenger being forcibly dragged off a plane, a fresh controversy seems to have surfaced wherein a passenger was stung by a scorpion on one of its flights.

A Canadian man said he was stung by a scorpion while he was travelling in the business class, BBC reported.

Richard Bell said the creature fell "onto his head" from the bin above when he was having his lunch on his way from Houston, Texas to Calgary in Canada on a United Airlines flight last week.

Bell held the scorpion from its tail and it stung him. United has reportedly offered to compensate the passenger for the incident.



"While I was eating, something fell in my hair from the overhead bin," said the passenger, who was travelling with his wife Linda.

"I picked it up, and it was a scorpion. And I was holding it by the tail, so it couldn't really sting me then," he added.

Richard Bell. PHOTO COURTESY: BBC

Bell said he was warned by a fellow passenger that the creature could be dangerous. "So I dropped it on my plate and then I tried to pick it up again, and that's when it stung me. It got my nail, mostly," he explained.

The passenger flicked the scorpion on the floor, with a flight attendant covering it with a cup before before throwing it away in the bathroom.

Bell was later cleared of any medical issue from a hospital in Calgary. He is not planning to launch a lawsuit as the airline has offered him flying credit to compensate him for the occurrence.



The airline sparked outrage on Monday for the treatment of a passenger who was physically dragged off a plane the airline had overbooked.

The man, a Vietnamese-American doctor, was seen being dragged down the aisle on his back by his hands, body limp, bleeding from the mouth, glasses askew and shirt pulled up above his navel.