Millions of bees released during big rig crash

A fiery crash involving two semi trucks shut down traffic on Interstate 10 just east of Dillon Road in Coachella for much of the morning.

One of the semis, carrying frozen chicken, tried to pass a slower truck carrying about 500 honey bee hives.

The driver clipped the back end of the bee truck releasing millions of bees before the chicken truck caught on fire.

“I mean hey, what else can you say but honey chicken,” said a nearby driver stuck in traffic.

The driver of the chicken truck was sent to the hospital with minor injuries, while the driver and passenger of the bee truck remained on scene to begin clearing the mess.

The bees swarmed near the hives, confused and agitated, creating a hazardous area near the scene.

“This isn’t normal for them so they don’t know anything to do but be defensive and sting,” said Lance Davis, owner of Killer Bee Removal and an expert on bees.

When the sun set, the honey bees settled down and clustered back around the hives. That made it easy for the workers to load them onto a new truck and take them to their final destination.

Any residual bees are likely to cluster on nearby trees and bushes overnight, until they’re removed by Davis in the morning and taken to a local bee farm.