Daijiworld Media Network - Washington

Lynden, May 31: A truck carrying an estimated 250 million honeybees overturned near the Canadian border in northwestern Washington state early Friday, releasing the bees into the surrounding area.

The truck, hauling about 31,751 kilograms of honeybee hives, failed to navigate a tight turn near Lynden and rolled into a ditch around 4 a.m., according to the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office. The driver was uninjured.

Deputies, public works employees, and local beekeepers rushed to the scene to recover the bees. Many box hives fell from the truck, but beekeepers worked to restore and reset them. The plan is to allow the bees to find their queen and return to their hives over the next couple of days.

Authorities advised the public to avoid the area to prevent bee stings. Deputies occasionally took refuge in their vehicles to escape the agitated bees.

Honeybees play a crucial role in pollinating more than 100 crops, but populations have been declining for years due to factors like insecticides, parasites, disease, climate change, and habitat loss.

Beekeepers often transport millions of bees to new locations to prevent resource depletion, and accidents occasionally lead to massive bee escapes—similar to a 2015 incident where 14 million bees escaped on Interstate 5.

Alan Woods, president of the Washington State Beekeepers Association, suggested the state should have a standardized “emergency bee response” plan for such crashes.