Bees attack family, sting two children to death
A village in Kitui County is in shock after a swarm of bees descended on a family in a bizarre attack that left two children dead.
Joy Muthini Kang’ola, a single mother from Ngakaani village in Lower Yatta district was rescued by her neighbours after fleeing her home under heavy attack, who quickly mobilized some pesticide and sprayed the compound to contain the angry bees.
Ms Kango’la, who is admitted at Kitui Level Five Hospital in severe pain arising from the bee stings, narrated how the attack happened around noon on Wednesday as his children were playing in the compound.
“One of the children was bitten but in no time thousands of them swarmed all over even in the house biting everybody on sight,” she narrated.
The attack happened so fast as by the time she decided to evacuate her four children from the house with the aid of her young sister to flee to the neighbouring home, she even had difficulties finding her way out.
The middle aged woman, who is also expectant, picked the youngest child and decided to run while holding the hand of the one of the toddlers.
“Unfortunately, the child who was on my back slipped through and fell down, and in the process of picking her up, the other one collapsed,” she painfully narrated in hospital.
Amid loud screams that attracted her neighbours, the bees were now pursuing them and attacking so violently that she was unable to pick the young ones as she blacked out from the vicious stings.
The two children died on the spot as their mother was rescued by her neighbours who sprayed the bees with pesticide managing to contain them.
Her other two children were rescued by their young sister who grabbed a blanket in the house and instead of running away decided to lie on the ground and cover them.
Ms Kang’ola was rushed to the nearby heath centre and later transferred to Kitui Level Five Hospital where she was admitted together with the surviving children.
Area chief Mutua Kasaya said the bees, believed to be migrating to escape the hot weather, had camped on a tree near the family’s house the previous night, and were hovering around ostensibly in search of water.
Dr Muo Kasina, a bee expert explained the bee attack phenomenon is related to climate change in the sense that the bees are unable to cope with the harsh weather and are vacating the hives in search of cooler places.
Dr Kasina, a director at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (Karlo), said the bees are likely to attack because of irritating weather and that availability of water in the compound may have saved the situation.
“The tragic bees attack is the consequences of the warming planet. The temperatures are becoming too unbearable even to every surviving creature including flies, birds, insects and even wild animals,” said the scientist when asked to comment on the phenomenon.