Kolar [Karnataka]: While Bihar may rue the disappearing of honeybees, in Karnataka, the bees are biting mad! For some reason swarms of bees seem to attack funeral processions. On Sunday, it happened again!

A funeral procession of some 15 people were carrying a dead body to perform the last rites when a swarm of bees descended on them from a tree they were passing by, and began stinging them.

The attack was so intense that the hapless mourners fled helter-skelter to escape the bees, leaving the body on the spot. They tried to wait out the time from a distance, but the bees were not in a mood to have anybody near their tree.

Ten persons were stung badly, and had to be admitted to hospital. When a three-hour wait proved futile, somebody had a brainwave. He remembered that smoke has makes bees leave. So they resorted to smoking away the bees, before being able continue on their journey. According to a member of the bereaved family, two of the 10 persons admitted to hospital were in a critical condition.

In September last year, a 75-year-old man attending a funeral procession died when he was attacked by bees in Madhya Pradesh.

Getting back to Karnataka, a newspaper made a list of bee attacks reported in the state in the past few months.

December 18, 2015: 36 students from St Joseph’s College of Arts were attacked by a swarm of bees near Chamundipura.

Oct 30, 2015: Two persons were seriously injured while five others sustained minor injuries when bees attacked a funeral procession, also in Kolar.

October 4: A group of travellers were injured when a swarm of bees from a nearby coconut tree attacked them near Tumakuru.

October 1, 2015: Mourners at a funeral procession in Chitradurga district had a rude shock when a swarm of bees descended on them forcing them to abandon the body midway of the rituals and flee.

  bees, environment, wildlife