A lone survivor told investigators that a passenger had smuggled the reptile, whose size wasn't noted, on board in a sports bag. It somehow got loose on a domestic flight from the capital of Kinshasa to a regional airport in Bandundu, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported.
The panic started when a terrified stewardess "hurried" toward the cockpit, followed by passengers. That threw the small aircraft off balance, sending it into a field of thatched huts "despite the desperate efforts of the pilot," The Sun tabloid reported, citing an article originally published in Jeune Afrique, a French-language news magazine.
The crocodile survived the Aug. 25 crash but was killed with a machete on the ground. Details of the accident are only now emerging.
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Britain's The Guardian identified the co-pilot and first officer as Chris Wilson, 39, of Gloucestershire, England. A British investigator dealing with the incident told the paper, "if this were the cause of the accident, it is truly extraordinary." Apparently, smuggling crocodiles is not a rarity. In a 2007 article in Vanity Fair titled "Congo From the Cockpit," author William Langeweische describes how crocs are often brought on board for transport to local markets because their tails are considered a delicacy, according to an excerpt posted online by the The Weekly Standard.
Last year, a baby crocodile measuring 1 foot escaped from a passenger's luggage and wandered an Egypt Air flight from Abu Dhabi to Cairo, causing pandemonium onboard, the BBC reported. The croc was eventually captured by crew members. No one claimed the infant reptile, and it was donated to a local zoo.