A 20-year-old man is in a coma after being stung more than 20,000 times by killer bees in the United States, his family and local media reported on Wednesday (August 31).
Austin Bellamy was on life support Tuesday night and was in a voluntary coma at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in Ohio (north), according to local television station Fox 19. He is “fighting for his life”. his mother Shawna Carter said on the donation page created Monday to pay for his medical care.
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Austin Bellamy was pruning a lemon tree on Friday morning when he unknowingly cut down a nest of killer bees. These insects, also called Africanized bees, are known to be particularly aggressive. Austin Bellamy’s grandmother and uncle, who were next door, watched the attack helplessly and were themselves swarmed by bees, according to Fox 19. “He yelled, ‘Help! Help me! Help!” and nobody could help her,” said her grandmother, Phyllis Edwards. “I wanted to try to climb the ladder to reach Austin,” but “I couldn’t reach it because I was surrounded by bees,” she said.
The young man was stung more than 20,000 times and swallowed about 30 bees, Shawna Carter said. Caregivers had to “get bees out of him by Sunday morning,” she told Fox 19. Doctors believe Austin Bellamy will make a full recovery, according to the local outlet.