Student finds a scorpion crawling in the Shein package

A student got more than she bargained for when she opened a package of clothes from fast fashion company Shein and discovered a live scorpion.

“I thought it was a toy – and then it moved,” said Sofia Alonso-Mossinger, adding that it was “pretty scary.”

With the help of her flatmates at the University of Bristol, the toxic invader was placed in a tub before being collected by an expert.

China-based Shein said it conducted an internal investigation and confirmed that “all standard operating processes were followed.”

The electrical and electronics engineering student said: “I unzipped the outer packaging and saw something moving and asked myself: what is that?”

When Ms. Alonso-Mossinger, 18, realized it was a scorpion, she unzipped the bag containing a pair of boots, took them out of her room and called her roommates.

“I thought I was dreaming,” she said. “I feel like I'm fine with spiders and stuff, but it was scary being in my room with a random scorpion.”

Phoebe Hunt, 18, said she heard screaming and ran to find her roommate with “a live scorpion in a bag on her boots.”

She said they were “not exactly thrilled about having a scorpion in the apartment.”

“At first, to be honest, I said we should kill it, and then everyone pointed out that wasn't the most humane thing to do, so we picked it up and put it in a Tupperware container.”

Oliver James, another roommate who is studying zoology, transferred the scorpion to a plastic container using kitchen tongs.

“It was a little nerve-wracking,” he said, since no one knew how toxic it was.

The roommates then gave the scorpion water on a kitchen towel, which it drank immediately, and a card to hide under before contacting groups of animals.

Phoebe said they tried the RSPCA but found it was more focused on collecting cats and dogs before contacting the National Center for Reptile Welfare (NCRW).

The charity was able to send someone over within a few hours.

NCRW's Chris Newman said reports of such stowaways are surprisingly common.

“The scorpion is Olivierus martensii“There really isn’t a common name other than Chinese scorpion,” he said.

He said his stabbing was “medically significant… potentially life-threatening, but your average adult would just be having a really bad day.”

“It is quite worrying that this is the second case in less than a month that has occurred in this way.”

Fortunately, there was no stinger at the end of this story, and Ms. Alonso-Mossinger said it “feels like a funny story now… but at the time it was pretty scary.”

Shein said they have contacted her to resolve the issue.

In a statement it said: “After receiving feedback, we immediately conducted an internal investigation.”

“Our on-site teams reviewed the shipment packaging process and conducted an inspection of the goods in our warehouse and confirmed that all standard operating processes were followed.”