That was the terrifying situation passengers endured on board a Russian aeroplane after bees escaped from a container into the cabin.
The creatures were being transported in two large cardboard boxes, stored in cupboards on the Boeing 757, but as soon as the plane took off from the far eastern city of Blagoveshchensk they began to creep out.
With bees buzzing around their ears, some business class passengers started to panic. Flight attendants scrambled to try and seal the bees inside their cupboard by taping its door shut. Eventually they managed to secure them inside, and the flight was able to continue its ten-hour journey to the Russian capital.
The incident - which has echoes of the cult Samuel L. Jackson movie Snakes on a Plane - has raised security concerns in Russia. The bees were allegedly being transported at the behest of a senior airport official at Blagoveshchensk.
According to Russian newspaper Rossiskaya Gazeta, the official had asked the trafficker to carry the boxes to Moscow where he would be met at the airport. Official airport documents quoted one of the flight's business class passengers as saying that the trafficker was 'slightly drunk.'
The incident took place on May 28 this year but was only reported recently.
A spokesman for the Yakutia airline confirmed that several passengers had panicked during the incident. The spokesman was unable to say whether the bees had stung anyone.
Following touch down in Moscow, the plane was defumigated and allowed to carry on to its next destination, Barcelona in Spain. However, when it arrived in Spain, a new crew discovered that the fumigation had not been completely successful with five bees still on the plane.
Baggage handlers in the country have claim that senior airport officials routinely disregard air safety rules.
Staff working at the Blagoveshchensk airport told Rossiiskaya Gazeta that the senior official 'can carry on board anything he likes.'
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