Local News in Brief : 1.3 Million Commuters Take Spill on Freeway
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Swarming bees tied up southbound traffic for three hours early Friday on the Golden State Freeway after a tractor-trailer struck the rear of a truck transporting 231 beehives, authorities said.
Forty-five of the hives, each containing at least 30,000 bees, spilled out into the freeway and its right shoulder after the 5 a.m. accident one mile north of Weldon Canyon Road, California Highway Patrol Officer Ralph Elvira said.
Beekeepers used smoke pots and nets to control the bees, but two CHP officers and a television cameraman were stung, Elvira said.
The bees were the property of a Neligh, Neb., beekeeper, according to the driver of the bee truck, Terry Hess. The bees earlier had pollinated trees near Bakersfield and were being taken to groves near Lake Elsinore, Hess said.
Beekeepers usually transport the insects at night or before dawn to protect them from the sun’s heat and to avoid traffic, said Mike Pearson, a Los Angeles County bee inspector, said.
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