A Fertile, Minn., beekeeper expressed concern this week for the families of two people killed in a four-vehicle pile-up Monday in the Twin Cities that also killed thousands of his bees.
"I have a lot of sorrow and grief for the families who lost people in the accident," Dale Bauer, of Bauer Honey in Fertile, told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis.
Bauer said his truck, driven by employee Darren Strauss, was bringing back bees that had wintered in Mississippi to be put out in honey-producing colonies in North Dakota this week.
Bauer could not be reached Wednesday afternoon.
According to news reports, the Minnesota State Patrol said a semi-truck driven by Jason Styrbicky, 36, of Buffalo, Minn., failed to slow for a traffic jam on Interstate 35 in Lakeville, south of Minneapolis on Monday, crushing two cars into the back of the Bauer truck hauling 17.5 million bees. It appeared Styrbicky, who has several driving violations, was traveling at a high speed, a Patrol spokesman told reporters.
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The drivers of the two cars between the two trucks, Pamela Brinkhaus, 50, of Elko, Minn., and Kari Rasmussen, 24, of St. Anthony, Minn., died from their injuries in the crash.
Rasmussen, who was airlifted to a nearby hospital where she died Monday night, had been returning from the first ultrasound exam of her first pregnancy, her family said, according to a TV report.
Strauss and Styrbicky were not injured.
Strauss had several bee-keeping suits in his truck that were used by emergency workers on the scene to avoid the swarms of bees, the TV station reported.
It created a several-hour delay on I-35.
Most of the bees survived, but thousands escaped, posing a threat to emergency workers on the scene. Bauer said at least 150 hives, worth about $37,500, were destroyed, but he won't know until he gets all the remainder of the hives placed in North Dakota exactly how many bees he lost.
Firefighters used water hoses to battle the bees, quieting them and in many cases destroying them. Several firefighters and other emergency workers were stung.
Another Bauer truck with bees that was not involved in the accident also stopped nearby and Bauer told authorities to douse both trucks with water to keep the bees from flying, according to the Star Tribune report. Each truck had more than 700 hives holding more than 17 million bees. The water killed many of the bees still in the hives, according to Bauer, but he said it was something that had to be done to deal with the tragic accident.
