Yesterday morning beekeeper Michael Barber woke up to repeated calls from the police asking for his help on how to deal with an incident where five million bees escaped from a truck in Canada, in the Burlington, Ontario area.

The bees came out of the beehives when the straps holding them to the truck bed were loosened.

When Barber arrived on the scene he saw a “crazy cloud of bees” who were “very angry, confused and homeless”.

Because of the situation, drivers had to keep their car windows down and pedestrians to stay away.

The setting was unlike anything Barber had experienced in his 11-year career: “It was something else,” he told the BBC, “I hope I never go through it again.”

Barber, owner of Tri-City Bee Rescue in nearby Guelph, said he first got a call from local police around 7 a.m. that there had been an accident and that bees were all over the road.

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

The bees were in their hives stacked in the back of a truck when the accident happened.

Barber called in other beekeepers for help, and a total of about 12 beekeepers helped clear the mess.

After a few hours, most of the bees managed to find their hives, but many did not survive the accident, and some beekeepers were stung.

The truck driver received more than 100 stings, Barber said, because he was not wearing a beekeeper’s suit.

Ambulances were nearby, but there were no serious injuries.