Maggots fall on woman during Delta flight to Detroit: 'She was freaking out'

FOX 2 (WJBK) - A passenger on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit said maggots fell on a woman next to him from an overhead bin, causing the plane to turn around an hour after departing.

"She was freaking out," said Philip Schotte, a Netherlands native who lives in Iowa. "She was just trying to kind of fight off these maggots."

While on Delta Flight DL133 on Tuesday, Schotte said he looked across the aisle only to see at least a dozen wiggly maggots falling on the woman. 

"I don’t really know what was going through my mind. I was trying to process it – disgust is one thing of course," Schotte said. "We had to wait there for help to actually come."

He slithered into another seat when help arrived. The flight attendants tracked the insects to a passenger's bag in the overhead compartments.

"They found out that there was a rotten fish in there," Schotte said. "I did see everyone’s reaction to the bag being opened, which was just an immediate pinching of the nose."

The fish was wrapped in a newspaper and the man who placed it there stood up and claimed it.

Flight attendants took the not-so-precious-cargo to the back of the plane, Schotte said. The pilot then notified passengers that they are returning to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

Schotte said he did not see if the man responsible for the fish and maggots was detained or fined. He got on another flight back to the U.S. a few hours later, more than happy to get off.

"I am surprised that both a rotten fish and live maggots were not picked up on by security," he said.

Delta sent FOX 2 a statement, apologizing to passengers.

"Their trip was interrupted due to an improperly packed carry-on bag," according to Delta. "The aircraft returned to the gate and passengers were placed on the next available flight. The aircraft was removed from service for cleaning."