An Air India flight to the northeast Indian city of Agartala was delayed by three hours on Sunday morning after an angry swarm of bee’s decided to attack the Airbus A320 as it prepared to depart Kolkata airport. Stuck onboard the plane were some 136 passengers who had to patiently wait while the authorities dealt with the sticky situation.
The honey bee’s had swarmed around the window of the flight deck and initial attempts to disperse them by using the window wipers turned out to be a complete failure. Turning to Plan Bee, the authorities carefully moved the plane to a quieter part of the airport where even an armed police response was sent.
But rather than trying to shoot the bee’s it turns out that the airport fire brigade had far more luck by washing away the bees with a jet of water. It took several attempts but eventually, the tenacious bee’s decided to admit defeat and the plane was eventually allowed to depart.
The highly unusual incident is said to be a first for the airport and it’s still not known where the bees came from or why they were so angry with this particular plane.
“Fire tenders were deployed to spray water to dislodge the honey bees and they could be driven away after nearly an hour-long operation,” airport official Kaushik Bhattcharya told the AFP news agency. What with the initial attempts to clear away the bee’s, the total delay was three hours.
