A woman in Austria got the fright of her life after finding a family of 18 scorpions living inside of her suitcase after returning from a holiday in Croatia.
The unnamed woman was unpacking her things at her home in Natterbach in the Austrian state of Upper Austria, and when she opened her case, she was greeted by an entire family of the stinging stowaways which had hitched a ride home with her.
Upon making the startling discovery she promptly called Tierhilfe Gusental, an animal rescue service, which said in a statement: "This afternoon we were contacted by a lady from Natternbach, because stowaways have nested in the luggage of their Croatia trip.
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"More precisely, a scorpion with babies. The animals were secured and handed over to us. They are currently in the Linz animal shelter until they start their return journey."
Yet despite the bizarre occurrence, according to Austrian media this is actually the third time scorpions have been found lurking in the luggage of recently returning tourists in recent months.
Prior to this, a woman from Linz also discovered a scorpion in her apartment on, 30 June, following a vacation in Croatia.
However, unlike her Natternbach counterpart this woman didn’t make the discovery until nearly three weeks later, meaning that a family of scorpions had been living undetected in her house for nearly a month.
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Yikes.
Another case, in September last year, saw yet another scorpion from Croatia found at a home in Upper Austria before it was taken to an animal shelter.
And it’s not just the Austrians either who are having this problem – earlier this year a British tourist was shocked to discover a tarantula hiding in her suitcase following a holiday in Cyprus.
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The now viral clip, which was shared on TikTok by @Georgiahsx shows the immediate aftermath of the discovery, in which her friend can be seen making a phone call for help before the camera pans to a discarded pile of clothes chucked on the floor, from which the eight-legged arachnid can be seen scuttling around before quickly slipping out of sight.scorpio
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In Croatia, scorpions are primarily found on the Adriatic Coast, and are much rarer in the country's continental regions.
There are only a few different kinds of scorpions that are found in Croatia, and thankfully none of them are life-threatening – although that doesn’t mean it hurts any less if you get stung by one.
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Tom Sanders