‘They were swarming all over him’: Worker dies after being stung by bees

A man has died after being stung by a swarm of bees on a construction site in southern California. The man was one of three workers stung on Monday while working on the site in preparation for the building of a supermarket in Riverside, according to fire chief Tony Perna. The man was involved in clearing out the site and struck an underground sprinkler control vault in which the bees had made their hive. "One of our guys went over to help him out and took his vest off and was swatting at them and that was it … the bees were chasing him down, he ran to his car,“ said eyewitness David Wolf.

He was on his knees, just had his hands and his face covered up … and the bees were just above him swarming.

Co-worker David Wolf

The man was still conscious, awake and talking as he was taken to hospital but he later died after having an allergic reaction, the fire chief revealed. One of the two workers who was also stung was treated at the scene while the other was taken to hospital for treatment but is understood to be returning to work at another site. Construction was halted while the hive was removed.

They turned the water truck on to disperse the bees and get them off him - it was insane, it all happened pretty quickly. They just kept splitting up and chasing all the other workers.

David Wolf

Health California bees