The passengers raised the alarm minutes before the flight -- from Ahmedabad to London via Mumbai -- was to take off at 12:50 pm.
An Air India flight to London was aborted before take-off today at the Mumbai airport after the passengers saw a rat running around the cabin.
The passengers raised the alarm minutes before the flight -- from Ahmedabad to London via Mumbai -- was to take off at 12:50 pm.
Rats have been known to down flights by cutting through the wires.
Red-faced, Air India said, "though the presence of the rodent was not confirmed", the flight was returned to the bay keeping passenger safety in mind.
Its engineering team was investigating the incident, the national carrier said in a communique.
The aircraft, it added, will be fumigated.
A standby aircraft was made available to the passengers and the flight left after a delay of six hours.