Bee-lieve it: Driver stung after truck full of beehives crashes in Death Valley

It reads like a promotional poster from a 1950s horror flick: “Bees attack in Death Valley!”

But the attack actually happened Sunday in Death Valley National Park in California.

A tractor trailer carrying beehives rolled over in the park, leaving the driver and first responders with many bee stings, the National Park Service said in a release Monday.

The truck was on State Route 190 when the driver lost control on a steep grade west of Towne Pass about 9:55 a.m. The truck overturned several times; beehives were scattered in the crash.

Passers-by helped remove the driver, a 35-year-old man from Las Vegas, from the truck while “getting stung by bees in the process,” the park service said.

Officials said the driver was taken by ambulance to Panamint Springs Resort, where he was then taken by helicopter to Antelope Valley Hospital with “traumatic injuries.”

A week prior to the crash, a tarantula contributed to a separate crash in the park when motorcyclist crashed into the back of a camper van driven by a Swiss couple who braked abruptly to avoid hitting the spider.

Contact Taylor Lane at tlane@reviewjournal.com.