Remember that story about the 5 million bees that were released when a truck carrying hives crashed in Canada?
Well, it happened again: this time in Washington.
Initial reports said 250 million bees had been released.
But it was actually only 14 million.
The bees were returning from a blueberry pollinating trip when the semi truck crashed into a ditch. Oddly enough, the crash itself didn't spill the bees.
That happened when a tow truck tried to pull the semi out of the ditch.
‘Unfortunately, that didn't happen as smoothly as was hoped, and some of the beehives broke open, which caused all the bees to swarm, which is how we're in the situation we're in now,' explained Matt Klein, the deputy director of the Division of Emergency Management at WCSO.
Klein gave that update while nursing over one dozen beestings and with two stingers still in his ear (no joke).
Beekeepers swarmed the swarm to get them under control.
‘I've never had that many bees — angry bees — at one time,' said Russell Deptuch who ended up using duct tape to close gaps in his bee suit after getting stung multiple times.
The beekeepers managed to recover most of the bees. Now, they'll begin sorting them to make sure each colony has a queen.
Authorities have also reopened the road.
Still, given the number of bees still in the area, it should be safe to use the Tommy Boy excuse while speeding for a few more weeks.
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