Around 250 million bees are on the loose in Washington State after a truck transporting the winged insects overturned.

At around 4:00 a.m. local time on Friday, May 30, a commercial truck carrying an estimated 70,000 pounds of honey beehives overturned on Weidkamp Road near Lynden, in the region of Whatcom County, snuggled along the U.S.-Canada border. 

Shortly after 9:00 a.m., the beehives fell off the truck, causing the bees to escape。

More than two dozen volunteer beekeepers from the region helped restore hives that had become dislodged in the crash.

Derek Condit, author of The Natural Beekeeper’s Path: Treatment-Free Practices for a Living World, volunteered to help collect the bees. He explained to Komo News that the beehives “crushed” into each other when the truck fell over, so they’re having to “rebuild” them, which has been a delicate and difficult process. 

“It’s not necessarily something we can go up with the keepers and just grab the beehives that are collapsing and falling apart,” Condit told the outlet. “So we’re basically one by one rebuilding the beehives, putting the frames back in and have to stack them.”

“These bees are going to swarm in the local areas and start new hives, luckily, so there will be re-pollination in this area, but there will be great losses as well,” he added.

Condit posted a video on Facebook, showing millions of honey bees buzzing in the air during the recollection process. He sported a white beekeeper suit while joined by other rescuers in protective gear. 

“Hive boxes from the overturned truck were recovered, restored and returned to use,” the sheriff’s office said in an update Friday afternoon. “By morning, most bees should have returned to their hives”

“The plan is to allow the bees to re-hive and find their queen bee,” the office said in an earlier statement. “That should occur within the next 24-48 hours. The goal is to save as many of the bees as possible.”

Katie Buckley, the pollinator health coordinator for the Washington State Department of Agriculture, indicated many of the bees will not only survive but reconnect with their hives and travel on to their destination.

“Bees are actually surprisingly sturdy,” she told NBC affiliate KING of Seattle.