‘Buzz-ness’ unusual: Swarm of honeybees delays Jaipur-bound IndiGo flight from Surat by 45 minutes

A Jaipur-bound IndiGo flight from Surat was delayed by 45 minutes after honeybees swarmed the cargo door. Firefighters cleared the bees using water spray. No one was hurt, and a passenger’s video of the incident went viral on social media

Surat: A Jaipur-bound IndiGo flight from Surat got delayed by nearly 45 minutes after a swarm of honeybees was spotted on the door of the plane’s luggage compartment prior to its departure, officials said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred on Monday afternoon, said A N Sharma, director of the Surat airport. “When the aircraft was stationed at the airport, the ground staff noticed a gathering of bees on the edge of the cargo door which was open when the luggage was being loaded in the plane,” he said.

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“After being alerted, our firefighting vehicle arrived at the spot and removed the bees from the edge of the open door by spraying water. This incident delayed the departure of the Surat-Jaipur flight by nearly 45 minutes,” Sharma said, adding that nobody was injured in the incident.

All passengers had already boarded the plane, and one of the occupants recorded the incident on his mobile phone and its video went viral on social media platforms.

According to Sharma, this kind of incident occurred at the Surat airport for the first time. “Bees show such behaviour during monsoon and similar incidents had taken place at other airports in the past. However, this is for the first time when such an incident took place at Surat airport,” he said.