A buzzing scene unfolded early Friday morning in northwestern Washington when a commercial truck carrying around 250 million honeybees overturned near Lynden, close to the Canadian border. The vehicle, hauling about 70,000 pounds (nearly 32,000 kilograms) of honeybee hives, rolled into a ditch around 4 a.m., according to the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities said the driver failed to make a sharp turn, causing the trailer to tip. Fortunately, the driver was unharmed, emergency officials confirmed.
Emergency crews, local public works staff, and bee specialists responded quickly to the scene. As the hives came loose, local beekeepers rushed in to help recover and reassemble them. The goal is to give the bees time to return to their hives and locate their queen, ideally over the next couple of days, officials said.
“We’re incredibly grateful to the community of beekeepers—more than two dozen came out to support the effort,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. Residents were urged to avoid the area as deputies, at times, had to take cover in their vehicles to avoid stings.
Honeybees play a vital role in agriculture, pollinating more than 100 different crops, including fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Their numbers have been dropping for years, with scientists citing factors like pesticides, parasites, disease, climate change, and reduced access to diverse food sources.
To raise awareness about the importance of bees, the United Nations established World Bee Day on May 20 in 2018.
Moving bee colonies from place to place is a common practice among beekeepers, as keeping them in one spot too long can strain local ecosystems and reduce available resources for other pollinators.
Alan Woods, president of the Washington State Beekeepers Association, told The Seattle Times that the state would benefit from a standardized emergency response plan for bee-related incidents. He referenced a similar case in 2015, when 14 million bees escaped a truck on Interstate 5 near Seattle and began stinging people nearby.
