India: A large swarm of bees forced an IndiGo flight bound for Jaipur to delay its departure by almost an hour from Surat airport on Monday.
The flight, scheduled to take off at 4.20 am, was ready for departure with all passengers and luggage on board when thousands of bees suddenly swarmed the aircraft’s luggage door.
To drive the bees away, airport authorities initially tried using smoke, but it proved ineffective, prompting them to reel in the fire brigade team, who sprayed water on the affected area.
However, this caused panic among the airport staff as the water attracted more bees for a moment.
After nearly an hour of persistent efforts involving both smoke and water sprays, the authorities successfully removed the bees from the flight.
Due to this, the Surat-Jaipur IndiGo flight could finally take off at 5.26 am, leaving passengers confined inside the plane for nearly an hour, the officials informed.
The officials also added that no passenger or worker was injured in the incident.
According to the airport officials, this was the first such incident at Surat Airport and the authorities are reviewing measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
