A 75-year-old man was killed in a bee attack as he was bulldozing trees on his property in Texas.
The beehive was in one of the trees Bryce Smith was clearing at his home in Bedias, about 80 miles from Houston, when the attack occurred. KBTX reported that Smith was stung more than 60 times on his face and neck.
Someone brought the man inside his home and called 911. First responders declared him dead at the scene.
“The Bedias community lost a very, very good individual yesterday, a very good man,” said Grimes County Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 Judge Chris Acord. “He was a wonderful husband, great dad, great grandfather to his kids. He was very well respected.”
The judge advised the community to remain vigilant as bee hives are common in the area.
“The severity of what happened and how this could happen to anybody and we don’t think about these things,” said Acord.
Texas A&M AgriLife Research Honeybee Scientist, Juliana Rangel, told the outlet that the bees that attacked Smith were likely Africanized honey bees.
“Africanized bees are a little bit more prone to feeling threatened by any external stimuli than more often than not, European bees,” said Rangel.
Between 2011 and 2021, a total of 788 deaths took place from hornet, wasp, and bee stings, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.