Truck crash lets loose millions of bees

Twenty million to 24 million bees were killed after a truck tipped on a curve of State Highway 33 about eight miles south of Howe around 8 a.m. Thursday.

Butte County Sheriff Wes Collins said the 2005 Freightliner went off the east side shoulder of the northbound lane of the highway. The truck tipped on its side and dumped its load of more than 400 beehives, then righted itself and continued on for another 75 yards into the sagebrush.

The bees were owned by Katie Bee Honey of Meridian, and the truck was heading to North Dakota.

The truck was owned by Padrino Trucking of Florida and driven by Rolondo Aparicio of Key Largo, Florida.

Although Aparicio told authorities he was trying to get out of the way of an oncoming car, he was cited for failure to maintain his lane.

Collins said several motorcyclists were stung by the bees as they drove through the accident area.

Collins said officers wanted to contact the bee owners, but the driver’s cell phone with their number was in the truck, and officers couldn’t get to it.

The sheriff’s office called Browning’s Honey Company of Idaho Falls to help. Browning’s arrived at the crash and determined the bees could not be saved.

Collins said the Idaho National Laboratory Fire Department was called to the accident scene to spray the bees with foam.

Aside from scattered stings, there were no other injuries reported. The loss was estimated at $200,000.