Be mindful of bees...

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

deepsea21

Contributor
Messages
1,445
Reaction score
1,355
Location
Virginia Beach, VA USA
# of dives
200 - 499
A post from TA today (perhaps someone can confirm).

Yesterday Africanized bees attacked a group of about 30 people who were visiting the Mansion de Paz cemetery in Cozumel, stinging them repeatedly. A taxi driver friend who was waiting nearby told me he never saw so many bees and was really frightened. It is reported 3 people were hospitalized, 1 elderly man in serious condition after over 100 stings.
 
Here is a link to the brief news:

Abejas 'atacan' en panteón: peligra la vida de un hombre

If Google maps is correct, this occurred way outside of town in an old graveyard where I'll never be wandering around.

Capture.JPG
 
zR6wckE9owbfsslD4TYXd69SnV_PD6M33cu0F28qsZgRwJme5a7GArR70rY9JiK-8GyaQIeX3iJm9od7OGA=w858-h645-no.jpg

3L0Pj0tTvteDnh2votSbU2L2Z1fVneS4Bf0zsso052VraK9T1nCjFeKK8KxzaGz5037TNtpgFSUnMI0Z2wE=w858-h645-no.jpg



Violent attack by bees




COZUMEL, April 29. - Of about thirty people who were attacked by swarms of bees inside the pantheon "Mansion de Paz", three delicate health and among them a person of the third age, were channeled in red code to the clinic of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS).
At approximately 12:47 a.m., it was reported to the emergency headquarters that some thirty people had been attacked by three swarms of bees inside the aforementioned pantheon, and emergency personnel, firefighters and Civil Protection personnel were urgently needed.
To the place arrived a patrol of the Direction of Public Security, where the preventive personnel were in charge of closing the passage to the sector of the pantheon and of the Cereso, located in the avenue "Claudius Canto" of the industrial zone, whereas an average of 29 people who arrived running to 65 avenue with Claudio Canto, were attended by paramedics of four ambulances from various private clinics.
However, two women and one male had to be redirected to the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), because it was the closest clinic and according to the emergency they required, after the two women arrived in a faint, due to the effect of insect toxin.
While the mason Alfonso Rodríguez, with tears in his eyes and not caring about the beekeeper's pickets, shouted that his father, Dagoberto R., 67 years old, was dead in the central median of said avenue, after that he could he ran out to be safe from the attack of the bees.
Alfonso said they were preparing a vault where a person would be buried, and that near them a group of people arrived to deposit flowers and a cross to a recent deceased, however, they were attacked by the swarms, which for three days were settled in the nearby trees.
The inert body of Dagoberto was rescued by firefighters and climbed into one of the ambulances, to be then redirected to the IMSS, where even before the close of the edition it was reported a delicate health and that the doctors were doing everything possible to save the life, since the hundreds of bees that attacked him may have ejected a large amount of toxin.
 
OMG

This happened in the middle of the night?

This is horrific but that said, probably a pretty isolated incident.

"the beekeeper picketers"?
 
We climbed back from a dive onto the SCC Reefstar on April 18 to find that a swarm of African bees gathering on the boat. It was terrifying. Thousands of bees forming a living mass hanging off the deck cover. (They form a huge living solid mass around the queen). Once all divers were retrieved, the swarm clung to the moving boat despite the salt water spraying them. Eventually the swarm dissipated before our second dive. Only one person was stung.

That was the first time I’ve ever witnessed that and it was scary. I’m glad that it was a large boat - we went to the upper deck and no-one doffed their wetsuits on the SI. Are the bees common on Cozumel now?

I have pics if anyone is interested.

A post from TA today (perhaps someone can confirm).

Yesterday Africanized bees attacked a group of about 30 people who were visiting the Mansion de Paz cemetery in Cozumel, stinging them repeatedly. A taxi driver friend who was waiting nearby told me he never saw so many bees and was really frightened. It is reported 3 people were hospitalized, 1 elderly man in serious condition after over 100 stings.
 
I would like to see the photos if you can post them. We see the same kind of thing with honey bees here in Idaho.
 
We climbed back from a dive onto the SCC Reefstar on April 18 to find that a swarm of African bees gathering on the boat. It was terrifying. Thousands of bees forming a living mass hanging off the deck cover. (They form a huge living solid mass around the queen).

How did you determine that they were Africanized? All hive bees do that.
 
How did you determine that they were Africanized? All hive bees do that.

Good question. I’m from Africa. My father used to keep bees for years. I helped out when I was a kid. Can spot them pretty quickly. They have many more defender bees than regular hives.

Funny thing. I learned to run away from wild ones when I was a kid. Thought about that on the boat! Seeing them so far from land and out on the ocean was a new one for me.
 
Last edited:
Wow! Wow! Wow! So much for my "isolated" incident theory. Gah
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom