Honeybees trap deputy on Oklahoma interstate

PAULS VALLEY, Okla., Sept. 30 (UPI) -- A swarm of honeybees jailed an Oklahoma deputy inside his cruiser after a semi-truck carrying them overturned on an interstate.

Garvin County Deputy Carl Zink uploaded video of the swarm to his Facebook, with the caption "The day the bees attacked! Coming soon to a theatre [sic] near you."

The incident happened shortly after 1 p.m. local time as Zink was responding to a report of a truck crash on Interstate 35 near Pauls Valley, about 50 miles south of Oklahoma City.

As he neared the crash site, the bees latched on to his cruiser, requiring beekeepers to work for several hours to clear them from the scene. Traffic was backup for 4 miles and for several hours, Bud Ramming, Garvin County's emergency management director said.

In a second video, the bees are shown swarming the back of the cruiser after they are removed from the front of the vehicle. The video is captioned, "The fire [department] sprayed them off of the hood so they went to the back."

At least one more police vehicle was swarmed by bees as well.

Beekeepers gathered as many loose bees as they could before 7:30 p.m., at which point the bees became violent and compelled authorities to burn the beehives. Using heavy machinery, debris from the crash was grouped together into a pile and burned with gasoline.

Injuries were reported from the crash, but their extent was not specified.

KOCO News reported the burning of the bees is expected lead to lessened local pollination. This will in turn produce less fruit and potentially hike up prices at local grocery stores.