When the straps holding the hives in place came loose, the hives slipped free.

In Barber’s words, he was greeted by “a pretty crazy cloud of bees” who were “very angry, confused, and homeless”.

Drivers were advised to keep their windows up and pedestrians to stay away.

In his 11-year career, Mr Barber has never experienced anything like what he witnessed in Burlington, Ontario.

He told the “It was something else.”. “I hope to never experience anything like it again.”

He said he first received the call from local police around 7:00 local time (12:00 GMT) informing him that bee hives had been spread over the road due to an accident.

Also, police issued a public call on social media urging people to stay away from the area, which is about an hour south of Toronto.

When the accident occurred, the bees were being transported to their wintering location in their hives.

The moment Mr Barber heard from the police, he contacted other beekeepers for assistance. Eventually, about a dozen beekeepers helped corral the insects.

According to Barber, the hives and bees were scattered over a 400-meter radius. Some of the younger bees clustered on nearby cars and mail posts, which he said they do to seek safety.

I probably had a thousand bees on the front of my truck,” he said.

Bees that were older and angrier buzzed around.

A few hundred bees did not survive the accident, Mr Barber said, but most found their hives after a few hours.

Beekeepers were also stung.

As the truck driver wasn’t wearing a full beekeeper suit, he was stung more than 100 times, Mr Barber said. He was not seriously injured and paramedics were nearby.

“Even beekeepers in full suits were nervous because there were so many flying bees,” he said.

Despite the incident, he expressed gratitude for the many local beekeepers who helped keep the insects and the public safe.

Everyone survived and a few bees were hurt, he said. I hope the hives will survive the winter.”