Bees delay Kolkata-Agartala Air India flight

A Kolkata-Agartala Air India flight was delayed for around two hours on Sunday after a swarm of bees was noticed in front of the aircraft while it was taxiing towards the main runway here, an airlines official said.

The plane with 136 passengers and crew members onboard the AI 743 flight was scheduled to depart at 9.40 am.

The bees were noticed by the pilots when the Airbus A319 was moving towards the runway for the take-off.

The pilots brought the aircraft to a standstill as further movement could have damaged the plane and harmed the passengers if the bees entered it through the engines, the Air India spokesperson said.

Fire services personnel were called to tackle the problem. It was found that the bees did not enter the aircraft nor any damage was caused to the plane. Before this incident, the flight had been delayed for some time due to a technical snag.

The plane finally embarked for the Tripura capital at 12.45 pm.