(CNN) -- Inclement weather, industrial action and technical problems are the usual suspects that ground large passenger jetliners, but a small furry mammal?

That's what happened to a Nepal Airlines Boeing 757 jetliner at Hong Kong International Airport this week, after a mouse was spotted in the plane's cockpit just before take-off.

The Kathmandu-bound flight, due to depart on Tuesday evening, had to be cancelled after the mouse was spotted by pilots. By midday Thursday, the creature had still not been found.

"It was initially trapped, but unfortunately managed to escape again. We've now placed mouse traps throughout the aircraft," the airline's Hong Kong general manager Sita Gurung told CNN.

"All passengers have now left Hong Kong after we re-routed them through Dragonair on Wednesday," she added.

Gurung said the main fear of a trapped rodent on an aircraft was the possibility of it chewing through wiring critical to the aircraft's operation.

In an odd twist, the same plane was reportedly held up for 11 hours in Kathmandu on Monday after a mouse jumped out of a box of drinks, Hong Kong's The Standard newspaper reported.

However, Gurung is unsure if that mouse is the same one responsible for the SAR grounding.