A transport truck carrying honeybees overturned near St. Leonard, New Brunswick, when its load shifted on an off-ramp of the Trans-Canada Highway shortly after 6:00 a.m. today. The driver was not hurt.

The situation is under control and a detour has been set up on the highway to route traffic around the overturned truck. Beekeepers were quickly on the scene to smoke the bees to calm them, while fightfighters stood by with hoses to wet the hives down in case the morning rain (which kept the bees close to the truck) should happen to ease up. Fortunately, only a handful of the 330 four-hive crates of transported bees were opened in the accident.

The original plan was to try to flip the truck back onto its wheels, but officials from Agriculture Canada decided to move the crated hives one at a time to a second flatbed truck. The truck will wait until dark to move out, to give the bees a chance to return to their hives.

The bees had been pollinating blueberries near Tracadie-Sheila and were returning to their home in Ontario.

See:
• Beekeepers help recover 12 million ‘nasty’ honey bees from N.B. truck crash
  Canadian Press / Google News
  30 June 2008
• Emergency officials dealing with stinging issue in N.B.
  CBC News
  30 June 2008
• 12 million bees swarm highway Twelve million bees are released on a Canadian highway after a transport truck overturns.
  CNN Breaking News Videos
  video source: CBC | time 1:05