Millions of honeybees abuzz after truck overturns in Washington state
BELLINGHAM, Wash., May 31, (AP): There was a buzz in the air Friday in northwestern Washington state as about 250 million honeybees escaped a commercial truck that overturned.
The truck hauling an estimated 70,000 pounds (31,751 kilograms) of honeybee hives rolled over around 4 a.m. close to the Canadian border near Lynden, the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office said in social media posts.
It appears the driver did not navigate a tight turn well enough, causing the trailer to roll into a ditch, county emergency management spokesperson Amy Cloud said in an email.
The driver was uninjured, Cloud said. Deputies, county public works employees and several bee experts responded to the scene. The box hives later came off the truck, and local beekeepers swarmed to help recover, restore and reset the hives, according to the sheriff's office.
The plan is to allow the bees to return to their hives and find their queen bee in the next day or two, according to the sheriff's office. The goal is to save as many of the bees as possible.
"Thank you to the wonderful community of beekeepers: over two dozen showed up to help ensure the rescue of millions of pollinating honey bees would be as successful as possible,' the sheriff's office post said.
The public was advised to avoid the area on Friday, and sheriff's deputies dove into in their squad cars at times to avoid being stung. Honeybees are crucial to the food supply, pollinating over 100 crops including nuts, vegetables, berries, citrus, and melons.
Bees and other pollinators have been declining for years, and experts blame insecticides, parasites, disease, climate change, and lack of a diverse food supply. In 2018, the U.N. General Assembly sponsored the first "World Bee Day' on May 20 to bring attention to the bees' plight.
Beekeepers often transport millions of bees from one location to another because leaving them in one location for too long can deplete resources for other pollinators, The Seattle Times reported.
Alan Woods, president of the Washington State Beekeepers Association, told the newspaper the state should have a standardized "emergency bee response' for bee vehicle crashes. In 2015, 14 million bees escaped a truck north of Seattle on Interstate 5 and started stinging people, the newspaper reported at the time.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab Times
2 days ago
- Arab Times
Millions of honeybees abuzz after truck overturns in Washington state
BELLINGHAM, Wash., May 31, (AP): There was a buzz in the air Friday in northwestern Washington state as about 250 million honeybees escaped a commercial truck that overturned. The truck hauling an estimated 70,000 pounds (31,751 kilograms) of honeybee hives rolled over around 4 a.m. close to the Canadian border near Lynden, the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office said in social media posts. It appears the driver did not navigate a tight turn well enough, causing the trailer to roll into a ditch, county emergency management spokesperson Amy Cloud said in an email. The driver was uninjured, Cloud said. Deputies, county public works employees and several bee experts responded to the scene. The box hives later came off the truck, and local beekeepers swarmed to help recover, restore and reset the hives, according to the sheriff's office. The plan is to allow the bees to return to their hives and find their queen bee in the next day or two, according to the sheriff's office. The goal is to save as many of the bees as possible. "Thank you to the wonderful community of beekeepers: over two dozen showed up to help ensure the rescue of millions of pollinating honey bees would be as successful as possible,' the sheriff's office post said. The public was advised to avoid the area on Friday, and sheriff's deputies dove into in their squad cars at times to avoid being stung. Honeybees are crucial to the food supply, pollinating over 100 crops including nuts, vegetables, berries, citrus, and melons. Bees and other pollinators have been declining for years, and experts blame insecticides, parasites, disease, climate change, and lack of a diverse food supply. In 2018, the U.N. General Assembly sponsored the first "World Bee Day' on May 20 to bring attention to the bees' plight. Beekeepers often transport millions of bees from one location to another because leaving them in one location for too long can deplete resources for other pollinators, The Seattle Times reported. Alan Woods, president of the Washington State Beekeepers Association, told the newspaper the state should have a standardized "emergency bee response' for bee vehicle crashes. In 2015, 14 million bees escaped a truck north of Seattle on Interstate 5 and started stinging people, the newspaper reported at the time.
Arab Times
4 days ago
- Arab Times
South Korean navy patrol plane crashes in country's south
SEOUL, South Korea, May 29, (AP): A South Korean navy plane with four crew members crashed during a training flight on Thursday and it was not immediately known if they survived, the navy said. The P-3C patrol plane took off from its base in the southeastern city of Pohang at 1:43 p.m. but fell to the ground due to unknown reasons, the navy said in a statement. The navy is working to determine the status of the four people aboard the plane and why it crashed, the statement said. There have been no reports of civilian casualties on the ground, it said. Pohang's Nambu police station also confirmed the crash involved a navy patrol aircraft and it couldn't immediately confirm whether there were any deaths or injuries. An emergency office in Pohang said that rescue workers and fire trucks were dispatched to the site after receiving reports from local residents that an unidentified aircraft fell onto a hill near an apartment complex and caused a fire. The scale and damage of the fire wasn't immediately known. Yonhap news agency published photos showing firefighters and at least one water truck operating near the crash site, with flames flickering as black-gray smoke engulfed the trees. In December, a Jeju Air passenger plane crashed at Muan International Airport in southern South Korea, killing all but two of the 181 people on board. It was one of the deadliest disasters in South Korea's aviation history.
Arab Times
7 days ago
- Arab Times
WWII bomber crash left 11 dead, 'non-recoverable'; 4 finally coming home
WAPPINGERS FALLS, NY, May 26,(AP): As the World War II bomber Heaven Can Wait was hit by enemy fire off the Pacific island of New Guinea on March 11, 1944, the co-pilot managed a final salute to flyers in an adjacent plane before crashing into the water. All 11 men aboard were killed. Their remains, deep below the vast sea, were designated as non-recoverable. Yet four crew members' remains are beginning to return to their hometowns after a remarkable investigation by family members and a recovery mission involving elite Navy divers who descended 200 feet (61 meters) in a pressurized bell to reach the sea floor. Staff Sgt. Eugene Darrigan, the radio operator was buried military honors and community support on Saturday in his hometown of Wappingers Falls, New York, more than eight decades after leaving behind his wife and baby son. The bombardier, 2nd Lt. Thomas Kelly, was to be buried Monday in Livermore, California, where he grew up in a ranching family. The remains of the pilot, 1st Lt. Herbert Tennyson, and navigator, 2nd Lt. Donald Sheppick, will be interred in the coming months. The ceremonies are happening 12 years after one of Kelly's relatives, Scott Althaus, set out to solve the mystery of where exactly the plane went down. "I'm just so grateful,' he told The Associated Press. "It's been an impossible journey - just should never have been able to get to this day. And here we are, 81 years later.' The Army Air Forces plane nicknamed Heaven Can Wait was a B-24 with a cartoon pin-up angel painted on its nose and a crew of 11 on its final flight. They were on a mission to bomb Japanese targets when the plane was shot down. Other flyers on the mission were not able to spot survivors. Their wives, parents and siblings were of a generation that tended to be tight-lipped in their grief. But the men were sorely missed. Sheppick, 26, and Tennyson, 24, each left behind pregnant wives who would sometimes write them two or three letters a day. Darrigan, 26, also was married, and had been able to attend his son's baptism while on leave. A photo shows him in uniform, smiling as he holds the boy. Darrigan's wife, Florence, remarried but quietly held on to photos of her late husband, as well as a telegram informing her of his death.
