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A flight has been grounded for five days after 130 hamsters escaped their cages in Portugal.
They were found roaming around the cargo area of the Airbus 320 after baggage handlers discovered their damaged cages when the flight touched down at an airport in Azores.
Workers have been desperately trying to round up the power cable-eating rodents since the mass escape on Tuesday – but 16 are still said to be on the loose.
The hamsters were reportedly part of a delivery for a pet shop on the island which also included ferrets and some birds.
Authorities began searching for them after passengers on board the plane disembarked and their luggage was removed.
The mass break-out forced the flight to be grounded instead of continuing the journey to Lisbon where it had started its journey from.
Sources told a local newspaper that the animals had been accepted on the flight after being turned away from an earlier one because the cages “didn’t meet accepted standards”.
TAP Air Portugal, the airline operating the flight, has yet to make any official comment.
Pictures released by the airport staff show the rodents running around the plane.
