A swarm of honey bees brought Midtown Manhattan to a standstill on Friday (2 June). More than 2,000 bees descended on a busy block near the Rockefeller Center - 47th Street between Madison and Fifth Avenue - around 11am local time (4pm BST).

More from IBTimes UK

The bees covered a yellow delivery van parked in the middle of 47th Street.

Van driver Henrique Paiva told NBC 4 New York that he returned to his vehicle after finishing a job and opened the door to "thousands of bees."

"It's crazy, I've never seen anything like this before," Paiva said. "I was scared. They have the potential to kill people so you have to be very careful with them."

It is not clear where the swarm came from. Witnesses told police that they first spotted the bees outside a building opposite the van.

A beekeeper arrived to remove the bees from the van with a vacuum. The bees were taken to the NYPD's beehive in the Bronx.

Police reopened 47th street after several hours.

Last month, a swarm of bees plagued London commuters. The insects left commuters rushing for cover and ground rush hour traffic to a halt on 16 May.

New York