Truck carrying millions of bees overturns, forces Delaware to activate 'bee swarm removal procedure'

A truck carrying an estimated 16 to 20 million bees overturned on a ramp near Newark, in Delaware, on Tuesday night, sending the live cargo swarming into the air.

Lucky for DelDOT, the state already had a "bee swarm removal procedure" on file, which officials activated, calling in beekeepers to help advise on the situation.

"We got ahold of one of those bee providers, and he came right out," Sgt. Paul Shavack told DelawareOnline.

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Police cited the driver with transporting an unsafe load; the driver, along with his two passengers in the tractor-trailer, were taken to a nearby hospital with an estimated 50-100 bee stings each. Officials closed the ramp for nearly 12 hours after the accident, during which time they doused the bees with streams of water.

While troopers said they now have the situation under control, they did warn motorists of "transient bee swarms in the area," which sounds like code for "take the longer way home from work today."