6 people stung to death by killer bees after bus plummets into hive
Six people, including an 8-year-old girl, have been killed by a swarm of bees after a bus they were riding plunged into a ravine and hit several beehives.
The tragic incident occurred Monday in Nicaragua, with the vehicle veering off the road during an hourlong journey from Jinotega to San Sebastián de Yalí in the northwest of the country.
Approximately 45 people were on board the bus when it reportedly suffered a mechanical problem, plunging 165 feet down the ravine, and ending up in a coffee plantation.
All people survived the initial crash, but the bus disturbed a swarm of killer Africanized bees.
The passengers were stung repeatedly by the angry insects, with six having reportedly succumbed to the attack.
The deceased include Reyna Isabel Olivas Montalván, 84, Santos Arnulfo Calderón Castellón, 38, Dilcia Flores Amparo, 32, and Kenia Jazmín Soza Bonilla, 19.
Also among the dead were Eneyda Tórrez Zelaya, 47, and her 8-year-old daughter Andrea Carolina.
A further 14 passengers were left severely injured in the incident.
Several were treated at a nearby health center, while others had to be transported to a larger hospital in Jinotega.
Disturbing photos show some survivors with hundreds of painful stings spread across their bodies.
The Africanized honey bee, also known as “the killer bee,” is a cross-breed between the European honey bee and the African honey bee.
African honey bees were imported to Brazil in the1956 to increase honey production in the country. However, the following year, several bees escaped from an apiary and began breeding with European honey bees.
According to the Smithsonian, cross-bred Africanized bees are considered far more dangerous than single-breed honey bees because they react to disturbances 10 times faster and can sting up to 10 times more.
Africanized bees have caused more than 1,000 reported deaths in Brazil since the mid-1950s, and have made their way north to countries including Nicaragua and the United States.
Africanized honey bees reached Texas in 1990 and Arizona in 1993.
Back in 2014, an Arizona landscaper died after a swarm of 800,000 Africanized bees attacked him in the attic of a home. In 2018, a man was hospitalized after thousands of the deadly insects swarmed a Walmart in Wallis, Texas.
