Six dead including mother and daughter after swarm of killer bees goes on horror rampage

Killer bees swarmed on a coach-load of people after a traffic accident, killing six of them including a mother and her eight-year-old daughter. The tragedy occurred after the vehicle, carrying 60 passengers, veered off the road into a coffee plantation where African honeybees were being kept in hives.

At the time, the bus was heading towards the community of La Rica, but the driver, named as Santos Ismael Herrera, 22, lost control of the vehicle due to an apparent mechanical malfunction, which caused it to plunge into a 50-metre-deep ravine.

The enraged insects then attacked the occupants as they desperately tried to escape from the coach, stinging 45 of them.

In the fall, the bus knocked over some wooden hives used for honey production harbouring African bees (also known as killer bees), triggering the violent attack.

Initial reports put the number of dead at four so far after the accident in Nicaragua yesterday morning – but Express.co.uk understands two more have since died in hospital.

According to local health officials, the injured passengers, and the driver, were taken to a medical centre in San Sebastián de Yalí, about 115 miles north of the capital, Managua -with the most seriously ill to the regional hospital in Jinoteg.

Video footage shared on social media showed them arriving at the back of a truck

The victims were identified as Eneyda Torrez Zelaya, 47, and her daughter Andrea Carolina Garcia Torrez, 8, Dilcia Flores Amparo, 32, and Santos Arnulfo Calderoón Castellon, 34, Reyna Isabel Olivas, a senior citizen, and a young woman named Kenia Jazmín Soza Bonilla, to Radio Ya.

In addition, a four-year-old child and an 84-year-old woman remain in a serious condition in Jinotega, where a pregnant woman who was stung along with 11 other people is also being treated.

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National Police traffic police officers went to the scene of the accident to determine the cause of the accident.

Channel 8 television reported that the inhabitants of the area tried to help the injured, but bees had surrounded the bus, which made it impossible to rescue them sooner.

Due to the multiple stings, it is believed that those affected will be taken to the hospital in Jinotega in the next few hours to be treated by specialised doctors.

Police officers also went to the site to investigate the accident, which ended in tragedy for several families.

The Africanised bee, which is often referred to as the Africanised honey bee and the killer bee, is a hybrid of the western honey bee produced originally by crossbreeding of the East African lowland honey bee with various European honey bee subspecies.

They are generally regarded as much more defensive than their European counterparts, reacting more quickly, and chasing people further.

They have also been blamed for killing horses and other animals.

(Additional reporting by Maria Ortega)

source: express.co.uk