On June 30, a man traveling on an international flight from Paris to Toronto, via Air France, made a horrifying discovery beneath his cats’ crate. Habib Battah and his wife were traveling with their two cats and they smelled something foul shortly after takeoff.

As reported by CNN, the initial thought was that one or both of the cats had soiled their carrier. But the reality of what was causing the stench was much, much worse. Battah got on the floor to check in the cats’ crate and discovered that although they were clean and fine, the floor beneath them was anything but.

In fact, he discovered a nearly two-foot-long area that was wet, and after asking a flight attendant for something to clean it up, he noticed that it was “blood red.”

One of the flight attendants shared the disturbing find with the crew, and eventually Air France headquarters solved the foul mystery – a man on the same aircraft the day before has suffered a “hemorrhage.” It was not just a bloody hemorrhage, it was a bloody, diarrhea hemorrhage.

There was so much waste on the floor that it soaked through Battah’s cats’ soft-sided carrier.  A cleaning crew was supposed to sanitize the aircraft the day before, but they did not clean the floor.

The crew said that they had nowhere on the plane to move Battah, and his wife, so they had to endure seven agonizing hours in their seats, with bloody diarrhea beneath their feet.

The best the crew could do for the pair is offer a blanket to put under their feet, two bottles of water, and wet wipes to clean off the soaked cat carrier.

Air France has stated that they “regret” the situation and they are conducting an investigation. The airline offered the couple a $500 voucher, and to wash their cats, but the offer was declined in favor of a chat with lawyers over what Battah describes as “gross negligence.”

No word on what caused the passenger’s bloody diarrhea; he survived, but it is unclear what he was sickened with.

Continue reading: Three More Racehorse Deaths Prompt Protests