Tractor trailer hauling bees rolled over west of Towne Pass

Subscribe | What is RSS

News Release Date: November 6, 2023

Contact: Abby Wines, 760-786-3221

DEATH VALLEY, Calif. – A tractor trailer carrying beehives rolled over on CA-190 in Death Valley National Park on November 5, 2023. The driver and several emergency responders got stung by bees. 

The tractor trailer was traveling down a steep grade west of Towne Pass when the driver lost control of the truck around 9:55 am. The truck overturned several times, scattering the cargo of beehives.  

Passersby extracted the driver from the truck, getting stung by bees in the process. California Highway Patrol and National Park Service provided emergency response. The driver, a 35-year-old man from Las Vegas,  had traumatic injuries from the rollover and bee stings. The patient was driven by ambulance to Panamint Springs Resort, where he was transferred to a Mercy Air helicopter ambulance to Antelope Valley Hospital.  

The remnants of Hurricane Hilary damaged CA-190 in August. Most of CA-190 reopened on October 15, but is not fully repaired. Construction is in progress and sections of the road are missing pavement. There was no flood damage near this traffic collision. 
************************************
Update 11/21/2023:
Twenty of the estimated 400 bee hives were salvaged. 

-www.nps.gov/deva- 

Death Valley National Park is the homeland of the Timbisha Shoshone and preserves natural resources, cultural resources, exceptional wilderness, scenery, and learning experiences within the nation’s largest conserved desert landscape and some of the most extreme climate and topographic conditions on the planet. Learn more at www.nps.gov/deva.