In the midst of a chaotic highway collision, over a million bees escaped, leaving a Florida beekeeper to face devastating financial and numerical losses in an unexpected turn of events.
A devastating accident in Florida has left a beekeeper mourning the loss of over a million bees after a truck collided with his vehicle, which was transporting the hives.
On a Florida highway, chaos ensued as more than a million bees took flight following a collision between a tractor-trailer and another truck carrying over five million bees. The beekeeper is left to tally the financial and numerical losses as many bees dispersed from the crash site. Miraculously, no one was injured despite the multitude of potential threats in the air.
Florida Highway Patrol cautioned the public to be careful in the area, as a trooper noted in an accident report, “There are thousands of bees in the area after the collision” (ClickOrlando). The bees continued to spread throughout the vicinity.
The incident occurred early in the morning on U.S. Highway 301 near the I-10 ramp in Baldwin. The tractor-trailer crashed into the truck transporting the pickup, which held dozens of beehives. Trent Padgett, the owner of Jesup Bee Company in Jesup, Georgia, recounted the accident to News 4 Jacksonville, stating that the semi-truck made a U-turn without signaling and caught him off-guard, resulting in the collision.
Padgett was in the process of transporting his bees to a honey maker in Lawtey when the accident occurred. By 7 a.m. Tuesday, the tractor-trailer had been removed, and the undamaged hives were loaded onto another truck. The remaining hives were left swarming with bees on the damaged trailer. Padgett attempted to lure the bees that had flown away by leaving a hive on the side of the road, but still, between 25 and 30 hives were completely destroyed.
According to Padgett, “A lot of bees got lost. A lot of them flew away.” He added that many dead bees were left on the highway from the damaged boxes. The losses amounted to roughly $40,000 in bees, with total damages estimated to reach up to $80,000. While the bees are uninsured, Padgett hopes that the tractor-trailer driver’s insurance will cover some of the losses, as the driver was at fault.
This unfortunate incident in Florida follows similar accidents involving spilled cargo on highways in Wisconsin, Virginia, California, and Texas, highlighting the importance of careful driving and the unexpected consequences of such events.
WATCH the video below for more details:
Sources: Dailywire, ClickOrlando, News 4 Jacksonville, Action News Jacksonville