Beekeepers came to the rescue on Wednesday after a truck driver transporting the insects was stung over 100 times while five million angry bees swarmed the scene in Burlington, Ontario.
Michael Barber, beekeeper and owner of Tri-City Bee Rescue in nearby Guelph said he received calls from the police around 7:00 a.m. local time about an accident that scattered bee hives all over the road, BBC reported.
The hives were packed on the back of a truck for transport to their winter home, according to BBC.
Barber called about a dozen other beekeepers for help, BBC reported.
Beekeeper Luc Peters was called in to help and told the New York Post that a large group of bees would normally stay inside their hives rather than fly around.
“There were a lot of flying bees that made even beekeepers in full suits nervous,” he told BBC.
“I was driving down the road, something ran across, or a bag, and I swerved,” causing hives to spill out of the truck, Tristan Jameson, the driver, told Global News.
WATCH: A commercial bee keeper explained Wednesday how he lost control of a truck while conducting a “hive move” from Milton, Ont., causing a load of five million bees to fall off the vehicle in Burlington.
Read more: https://t.co/lNp5fWU3yT pic.twitter.com/MWDh5qD9Ij
— Globalnews.ca (@globalnews) August 30, 2023
Jameson was not wearing a beekeeper suit and was stung over 100 times, according to Barber, BBC reported. He was checked out by paramedics and was not seriously injured, per the outlet. (RELATED: Swarm Of Bees Attack Elderly Man, First Responders Conduct Life-Saving Measures).
BBC noted that a few of the beekeepers were also stung.
Halton Regional Police posted a tweet warning people to stay away from the scene, noting that vehicles and residents should close their windows and that pedestrians should avoid the area until it was clear.
Guelph Ln north of Dundas – Officers dealing with load of 5 million bees fallen off truck onto roadway. Passing vehicles/residents advised to close windows & pedestrians avoid area until clear. ^jwf pic.twitter.com/evuVoyL1Fc
— HRPS Burlington (@HRPSBurl) August 30, 2023
The bees were spread over a 1,300-foot radius on nearby cars and mailboxes, per BBC.
Most of the bees were able to find their hives after a few hours, but a few hundred bees did not survive the accident, Barber told the outlet.