A grandmother has survived being stung by thousands of swarming bees after their hive was disturbed in Doonside on Saturday afternoon.
Netcare 911 paramedic, Chris Botha also farms with bees, and so packed his bee gear and responded., along with an ambulance and response vehicle to stabilise the patients.
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“When I arrived, I found the fire department had arrived and was putting on their fire gear and breathing apparatus masks to protect them from a frantic swarm of bees.
“When we went towards the patient I found that her grandson had run to her assistance and after putting granny on his back, he put a blanket around them. Within a few metres, the man had also sustained a few hundred stings and had to sit down on the ground.
“We removed the patients to a safe area while firemen also kept a fine water spray on us to calm the bees. Once I got them to safety and was able to remove the blanket, I found the granny literally sustained thousands of bee stings,” said Botha.
Paramedics stabilised the critically ill patients before they transported them to a provincial hospital. It is understood the bees were disturbed by children who found them in a tyre and were throwing stones at them. The disturbed bees attacked and sadly, the granny was walking past when this happened.
Read also: Pet dog killed by swarming bees
Right click to download and keep this useful poster on bees
