Fatal Africanized Honey Bee attack in Guyana leaves one dead

Killer bees exterminated after stung Eccles mechanic dies

Written by Whitney Persaud

Wednesday, 21 September 2011 02:38

SHEIK Iman Hassan, the 48-year-old mechanic who was attacked by a swarm of killer bees, at his Lot 238 Anaida Avenue, Eccles, East Bank Demerara address, on Friday has died. He and his co-worker were attending to a customer’s vehicle at the time of the attack and Hassan’s wife, Savatri, said he was left lying on the road for about five minutes before being transported to the Balwant Singh Hospital, in East Street, Georgetown, where he succumbed later the same afternoon. DEAD: Sheikh Imran Hassan, 48 The woman said the two men tried to fight off the insects. He put his head in a barrel of water and the other man hid in the car on which they were working. Savatri said she went to assist them but, in fear of her own life, she abandoned the effort, noting that the bees were there for between half an hour to 45 minutes,  during which no one else intervened. “The carpenters in the areas tried their best to help; they even lit a fire to try and smoke them out but their efforts were unsuccessful,” the grieving woman said. The widowed woman said it was the first time that such an incident occurred in the area.  She is left to mourn with three children. The neighbouring house where the bees hive was Meanwhile, the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) said, following the occurrence, immediate action was taken to exterminate the killer bees in the area. The agency said it contacted a private beekeeper, Mr. Carl Persaud, who responded to the scene and did what was necessary, including rescuing two dogs. He said, based on the number of bees that were exterminated, he believes there are other colonies of them within the area. The GLDA is advising that the bees are hostile and should be reported immediately to telephone numbers 220-6556/7. It extended its sympathy to the family of the dead man and those persons who were stung and injured in the process.

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Tuscon AZ: Friends remember man killed in bee attack

Friends remember man killed in bee attack

Posted: Jul 14, 2011 2:11 AM EDT Updated: Jul 14, 2011 2:11 AM EDT

By Sonu Wasu, reporter

Friends expressed shock and sadness after hearing about the tragic death of 46-year old Oscar Navarro, a man attacked by a big swarm of killer bees last Friday.
Neighbors who shared the property with Navarro described him as a very friendly man, who would always bring candy for their kids, and greet them with a kind word.


Lewis Urling was not only good friends with Navarro, he was also his landlord.  Urling said Navarro was a former pilot, who was on disability.  He was diabetic.
Urling said with his health and condition, there was no way Navarro would have been able to out-run or fight off the hundreds of bees, that attacked him.
 Neighbors were horrified to hear about the death.
"I just burst out crying.  You would expect that.  He was the sweetest man you would ever meet.  I can't imagine his pain.  Nobody should die like that,"  said Navarro's neighbor Dulce Pena.
Tucson city crews found a bee-hive buried in a Mesquite tree in a wash, just a few hundred yards away from the boys and girls club, at Joaquin Murietta Park, on N. Silverbell Road.
The city called the Northwest Exterminating company to get rid of the hive.
Crews put on bee suits and protective masks, and attacked the hive with rakes, and nozzles filled with a soap solution.  They also left behind sticky traps to catch the bees that were still alive.
By Wednesday evening, crews said they had killed off most of the Africanized honey bees, including the Queen of the colony.
Dena Berg, the manager of Northwest Exterminators said Africanized Honey Bees were the most prevalent species in Tucson.  They typically came out during the monsoon, when plants started to flower.  They were also considered the most aggressive and deadly bees out there.
This was the first bee death in Pima County this year.
Friends say Navarro, who did not have a car, was walking by the park towards Blockbuster video to return some movies, when the bees attacked him.
Witnesses said he was covered with bees from head to toe, and was stung hundreds of times.
Pima County officials said an autopsy showed that Navarro died from "mass envenomation."

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Entomologist's Comment:

Sadly, attacks by Africanized Honey Bees, (AHB or Killer Bees), will only become more commonplace, as these invasive insects continue to exploit available areas. Here in Florida, our official AHB slogan is " Bee Aware: Look, Listen, Run!, which at first sounds silly, but in fact is quite helpful. Take a look at our Dept. of Agriculture's, Apiary Section AHB Poster

Bee Aware: Look, Listen, Run poster

Richard Martyniak, M.Sc., Entomologist
The Buzzkillers, LLC
ALLFloridaBeeRemoval.com