Scorpion on plane stings Indy-bound man
Arachnid, 5 babies hitched a ride from Arizona in carry-on bag
An Indianapolis-bound Southwest Airline passenger was stung early Sunday by a venomous scorpion stowed away in his carry-on luggage.
The toxic Arizona bark scorpion and five babies were killed after Flight 2093 from Phoenix landed at Indianapolis International Airport at 12:10 a.m., said Southwest spokeswoman Marilee McInnis. The 44-year-old passenger was not seriously injured, but the jetliner was fumigated overnight.
Passenger Douglas Herbstsommer, Gilbert, Ariz., was going through his carry-on luggage when he was stung about a half-hour before the flight landed, according to airport spokeswoman Susan Sullivan.
"He felt numbness in his hand and arm and suspected it was a scorpion bite because he had been bitten before," Sullivan said.
The flight crew radioed the control tower 20 minutes before landing and arranged for paramedics to meet the plane. Herbstsommer was treated at the airport and did not need to be taken to the hospital.
Bark scorpions are plentiful in the Arizona desert and, though they are venomous, their sting rarely causes death, said Blake Froberg, a medical toxicologist with the Indiana Poison Center.
"They are most dangerous for children under 6, but usually they only cause local pain or temporary paralysis," Froberg said.
The scorpions, which grow to about 3 inches long, commonly crawl into clothing or shoes just as spiders and other insects do, Froberg said.
But McInnis said she had never heard of one crawling onto a Southwest flight before.
"This," she said, "is a first."
- By John Tuohy | Indystar.com