Thousands of bees caused a flight delay as they swarmed onto the wing of a plane at an airport in Brazil.

Footage shows the cloud of insects gathering on the ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop jet that had landed at the Greater Natal International Airport in Sao Goncalo do Amarante on January 22.

Travellers on Voepass Linhas Aereas flight 2Z-2351 were told to stay inside the aircraft as the crew called for assistance to remove the bee colony.

Passenger Everton Cesar said: 'We were surprised. We didn't see anything until that point, but soon the bees started to surround the entire plane. They began to land on the windows of the plane. And then everyone sat down to wait.'

Firefighters later arrived and dispersed the swarm by spraying the plane with jets of liquid.

The passengers disembarked safely around 90 minutes later.