Thousands of Africanized bees attack, kill Texas man

A hive of Africanized bees killed a Central Texas man and injured a woman who tried to help him on Saturday.

McLennan County Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Matt Cawthon told local reporters that Larry Goodwin was driving a tractor on his family’s land when he hit a pile of wood containing the hive.

Mr. Goodwin was able to run to the nearest house and turn a garden hose on himself, but he had already been stung too many times. He was pronounced dead at the scene, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported.

The woman who tried assist was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.

Allen Miller, the owner of Bees Be Gone who was called to remove the hive, said he destroyed 22 honeycombs containing an estimated 40,000 bees, the Tribune-Herald reports.

Mr. Miller said he has cleared out six hives of Africanized bees in the McLennan County area this spring.

“You can’t believe how bad they are. They make me want to get out of this business,” he told the Tribune-Herald. “They can get up under your clothes where no other insect can go. In a hive of ordinary European bees, about 10 percent will attack if the hive is threatened, but with African bees, all of them attack you.”