Knoxville, Tennessee– Travelers on an east Tennessee highway had to brake for workers — and drones, and maybe even a queen — when a truck carrying about 1 million bees crashed Friday.
The swarm blocked the Interstate 40 exit in Knoxville, said Mark Nagy, regional spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Transportation. He said that there were no injuries.
“The ramp from I-40 East to Henley Street is open again but the truck is destroyed and the bees are… well… buzzing. Unless you are wearing this costume, please stay in your vehicles in this area,” Nagy posted, along with a photo of the person dressed as a beekeeper.
Later on Friday, Nagy confirmed that all the bees had been moved from the area and the truck had been removed.
What couldn’t be so easily suppressed was the pun.
“So, this is the noise all over town?” U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett wrote on social media. “These things just write themselves.”
The Virginia Department of Transportation expressed its sympathy on social media. Its northern division recalled a 2018 crash that similarly released a swarm of bees onto Interstate 495, prompting the advice, “Please roll up your windows.”