GIFs: Truck Carrying Bees Overturns, Bees Swarm on I-95 On-Ramp

A tractor trailer carrying up to 20 million bees overturned in Delaware on Tuesday. The driver has been cited for unsafe cargo.

This was the first image shown on the CBS 3 news last night, trumping both primary day and the legalization of same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania. Yes, bees led the news last night — but what a buzzy story it was! A tractor trailer with bees overturned, spilling millions of bees onto an I-95 on-ramp in Newark.

Up to 20 million bees, beekeepers estimated! They driver, who was bringing the bees from Florida to Maine, lost control of his rig on the on-ramp to I-95 North. Fox 29 reports the driver has been cited for unsafe cargo.

A beekeeper told CBS 3 the bees would be “disoriented and angry” after coming up from Florida and crashing onto the side of a highway in Delaware. The driver and his two passengers were hospitalized; they had each been stung 50-100 times each. Tuesday was the first time Delaware had to use its “Bee Swarm Removal Plan” in 14 years.

The ramp finally reopened Wednesday morning at 7 a.m.

[CBS 3 | 6 ABC | Fox 29]