A Sudanese passenger plane was forced to make an emergency landing last week after a cat attacked the pilot, local media reported.

It is not clear how the cat stowed away on Tarco Airlines flight, which was scheduled to fly from Khartoum International Airport to the Qatari capital Doha, the New Arab said.

The captain was forced to make an emergency landing just half an hour after take-off as a result, an airport source told local news site Al-Sudani.

The New Arab said it was unable to independently verify the account but flight information available on Qatar's Hamad International Airport showed a delay of 72 minutes, which was the time the incident reportedly took place. It's thought the cat was a stray that had taken refuge in the plane overnight. MEM