JOHANNESBURG. A passenger jet was stopped from taking off in South Africa after a foetus was found blocking a toilet in South Africa on Friday, the domestic FlySafair airline said.

The discovery prompted the offloading of all passengers and a police investigation was launched.

The foetus was discovered by cleaning staff as the plane was being prepared and passengers boarded for an early morning flight from Durban to Johannesburg.

“Upon final preparations of the waste management system for the departure of flight, our technical crew discovered what appeared to be an abandoned foetus,” the airline said in a statement.

Police confirmed the incident and said they were investigating.

Passengers were asked to disembark the plane and their journeys were re-scheduled.

Kirby Gordon, a FlySafair executive, said: ‘We will be doing everything within our power to aid authorities in the necessary investigations and thank our loyal customers for their patience with the resultant delay.’

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman Colonel Thembeka Mbele officers were investigating the case as a ‘concealment of birth’.

He told South African site News24 in a statement: ‘We can confirm a foetus was found in a toilet by cleaning staff inside [an] aircraft at an international airport earlier on Friday morning. ‘A case of concealment of birth is [being] investigated by King Shaka Airport SAPS