A crocodile stashed in a duffel bag got loose on an airplane, frightened passengers and led to a crash that killed 20 people on board, according to an inquiry into the accident.

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The lone survivor of the crash in the Democratic Republic of Congo told the story to investigators, the U.K.’s Telegraph reported on Thursday. A British pilot was among the dead.

The plane was on a routine domestic flight from the capital of Kinshasa to a regional airport in Bandundu when the bizarre tale unfolded on Aug. 25.

An unnamed passenger had hidden the crocodile in a large duffel bag with the intent of selling the reptile, according to the Telegraph. The animal escaped as the plane approached its destination.

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"The terrified air hostess hurried towards the cockpit, followed by the passengers," a report obtained by the Telegraph said. The plane then became unstable, "despite the desperate efforts of the pilot."

The plane crashed into a home a few hundred feet from the airport, though the people who lived in the residence were not in the house.

The crocodile reportedly survived the crash but was killed by a blow from a machete.

The aircraft belonged to Filair, a private carrier, and was a Czech-made Let L-410 twin turboprop.

At the time of the crash, media reports said the plane apparently ran out of fuel and couldn’t make a proper landing.

Congo’s domestic air service consists mainly of badly maintained Soviet-era aircraft with a dismal safety history, according to media reports. Air crashes are common in the Central African country.