Truck Carrying 30 Million Bees Overturns On Highway
LAMAR COUNTY, Texas (CBSDFW) – A semi-trailer truck carrying a reported 15-30 million honeybees overturned on an East Texas highway on Memorial Day.
It happened on southeast Loop 286 near the Old Clarksville Road intersection in Paris, Texas.
One witness said as her truck approached the scene, hundreds of bees buzzed around the vehicle.
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"It wasn't enough to block out the sun, but we could tell it wasn't normal. That's when we saw the semi on its side and the beekeepers," she described.
Multiple agencies came out to help redirect traffic from the area and clear the road of the bee boxes that fell from the truck.
Local beekeepers were called in to help move the bees to a safer location and try to redirect the bees back into their hives, according to KXII-TV. They plan to move a queen in to try to attract more bees back to the hive for removal.
Police officers in the area told CBS19-TV they don't recall ever seeing an accident like this, and fortunately, several of their first responders who were stung are all alright.
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They advised if a swarm has attached to something on a person's property that they all 903-784-6688, option '0'.
Police told CBS19-TV that people shouldn't kill the bees either as, "they are very important to the ecosystem and humans. If you have someone who is allergic to stings, please be careful in the area of the crash."