480 beehives spilled onto freeway

It was a sticky, buzzing and sad mess along Interstate 5 near Seattle when a commercial truck hauling beehives overturned, dumping about 480 full hives onto the freeway. The mess of course created a traffic nightmare during rush hour through the major travel corridor. But probably more importantly than the inconvenience on commuters, about 14 million of the little pollinators had their hives crushed in the accident. Some swarmed away with their queens. Most died.

The company that lost the hives, Belleville Honey, tried to recover as many intact hives a possible. Eventually though, firefighters working with crews under pressure to clear the freeway, sprayed a foam mixture on the pile, killing many of the bees.

These photos were shot for seattlepi.com and Hearst Newspapers. These images of the unusual scene went viral on social media and ended up on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and led the National section of The New York Times, among many other publications.

Also, yes, I was protected in a bee suit as I shot these photos. My next door neighbor is a beekeeper and I was able to use one of his protective suits.