A semitruck accident in the wee hours of Friday morning caused quite a buzz for some Washington residents.
The 36-year-old driver of the truck, who was not named in reports, lost control when exiting Interstate 405 northbound near Lynnwood, Wash., hit a guardrail, and spilled the contents of his truck around 3:30 a.m., according to The Seattle Times. Despite his truck suffering a mangled front-left axle and wheel, the driver walked away from the accident unscathed. The same cannot be said for his cargo, which happened to be 14 MILLION BEES.
The truck held 458 hives owned by Belleville Farms. Originating in Sunnyside, Wash., the bees were supposed to be shipped north to Lynden, Wash. for pollination on a blueberry farm.
A truck carrying bee hives spilled millions of bees onto I-5 this morning. Oh, Seattle. pic.twitter.com/x6qL3BAJ6g
— Nathan Heal (@nathanheal) April 17, 2015
At first, the bees remained calm and stayed close to their hives. However, as temperatures warmed, the bees became increasingly agitated and started to swarm. Firefighters sprayed a mixture of foam and water on the hives in an attempt to kill some of the bees and mitigate the swarm’s wrath.
“Everybody’s been stung,” explained Washington State Patrol’s Sgt. Ben Lewis, reported The Seattle Times. “This is a first.”
Television reporters struggled to document the scene while fending off the angry insects. Seattle’s KIRO-7 reported that members of its news crew were stung “numerous times.” The folks at KIRO-7 were nice enough to share reporter Jeff Dubois’s experience at the crash site.
As rush hour loomed, the Washington State Department of Transportation advised drivers to keep their windows and vents closed while passing the site.
The Washington State Patrol is investigating the possibility that speed was an issue in the crash, though patrolmen also noted that the crash happened in an area of the interstate that is no stranger to accidents.
Seth Thompson, commenting on behalf of Belleville Farms, said that the beekeepers “saved 128 hives before the sun came up,” according to The Seattle Times. He also admitted it was a “huge blow for the business.”
While authorities estimated the damage to be about $92,000, Thompson predicted far worse.
“It’s a bad deal — a couple hundred thousand dollars for sure.”