WASHINGTON — Traffic was abuzz on the Capital Beltway near Fairfax County, Virginia, after a multivehicle crash unleashed a swarm of bees.
A dog was loose, too.
It happened Wednesday around 4 p.m. on the northbound lanes of Interstate 495 after two vehicles had a minor fender-bender near Georgetown Pike.
As the drivers were moving out of the travel lanes, their vehicles were struck by a tractor-trailer that had veered into the Jersey wall, a Virginia State Police news release said.
The driver of the tractor-trailer was unresponsive due to a medical emergency.
As the trooper and first responders were assessing the scene, they were swarmed by bees that came from the flatbed of the tractor trailer — it was carrying pallets of honey bees.
The crash caused the strap of one of the pallets to break, unleashing the bees.
As luck would have it, two experienced bee-handlers happened to be nearby and offered their assistance.
The bee-handlers put on their beekeeping suits, inspected the trailer, secured the load and captured the bees.
As if a swarm of bees on a highway wasn’t enough, a dog decided it wanted to get in on the action too.
A state trooper found a dog running loose at the scene. Turns out the dog belonged to the driver of the tractor-trailer, a 56-year-old man from Missouri.
The man was taken to the hospital and police said that he is expected to make a full recovery.
The drivers of the original crash were not hurt.
