Cockroach goes viral for staying alive while stuck in a plane window

A cockroach is going viral after a plane passenger filmed it crawling inside the window.

The passenger - who was only identified by her last name, Guo - was flying across China from Ningbo, Zhejiang, to Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, last week when she saw a large cockroach in the window next to her, according to Jimu News.

The outlet reported that Guo was expecting the insect to only stick around for “two minutes” so she didn’t feel the need to alert anyone. "I didn’t expect it to still be there after flying 3,000 kilometres. But I couldn’t tell if it’s outside the window or in the window’s inner layer," Guo said.

In a video taken by the plane passenger, the cockroach can be seen twitching and wiggling as the flight continued.

Although the airline with the extra passenger was not explicitly named, Jimu News reported that a spokesperson for the airline confirmed the cockroach was stuck between layers of glass, with just enough air for it to stay alive. The staff assumed the cockroach was originally in the airline’s cargo or luggage hold, and had crawled its way up to the windows.

Guo later said, in an interview with Boiling Point Videos, that she found the cockroach’s presence to be “very entertaining” and spent the entire flight looking for its next move.

Her video ended up going viral on Weibo - China’s version of X, formerly known as Twitter - where the post was viewed over 120m times, according to data seen by Insider. Some commenters expressed how scared they were that the unkillable bug was able to survive so high up in the air. “They can even survive above 10,000 metres?" one person questioned with a crying emoji, Insider reported.

Others weren’t as shocked about the cockroaches and even viewed it as “expected” for the insect. “As expected of the strong roach,” a comment read.

This isn’t the first time a cockroach has found its way onto an airline. Last year, Nikul Solanki took a picture of his meal on a flight from Mumbai to Bangkok and posted it to X, saying that he found a cockroach in the rice side dish.

“Small cockroach in air Vistara meal,” he captioned the post. The airline carrier ultimately disagreed with Solanki, citing evidence that his meal was analysed in a lab. He shared the Vistara’s response, which read: “We’d like to clear the air regarding the meal that was served to you on your flight with us dated 31 August from Mumbai to Bangkok.”

“The sample was sent to the laboratory and thoroughly tested. Based on the reports, we can confirm that no foreign object/insect was found in the particular meal sample,” they said. “The object in question was evaluated under a microscope and was found to be a piece of sautéed ginger.”

The message concluded: “We at Vistara leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the highest standards of safety and services are upheld.”

However, Solanki demanded proof that his meal was lab tested, commenting: “Airlines write without evidence please attach original lab report ginger or cockroach.”