ATHENS, Aug 17, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - A vulture who refused to budge had to be removed from the wing of a Ryanair flight awaiting takeoff on the Greek island of Crete, in order to avoid potential damage to the plane, a local newspaper reported Monday.

The Patris daily said the incident occurred late Sunday at the island's Iraklio airport, when the fire service was called in to remove the large scavenger.

It showed pictures the bird tucked inside a firefighter's fireproof jacket. The report did not specify where the flight was headed.

Other local sites showed a picture of the vulture landing on the plane's tail wing.

It was later placed in a wooden box and delivered to the island's natural history museum for care.

Birds are routinely sucked into aircraft engines, occasionally causing serious accidents.

Last week, the US National Transportation Safety Board said bird remains had been found in the engine of a Ryanair plane that saw a blade break off on July 10 during a flight from Greece to Germany, shattering a cabin window and partially sucking a passenger outside.

Four suspected bird strikes to the plane's engines had been reported by flight crews in the 12 months preceding the accident, but no damage was found in subsequent maintenance, the report said.