A man in Texas was was unrelentingly stung to death by “killer bees” over the weekend, it was reported. A woman and her daughter who tried to help the man were stung dozens of times.
Family members told NBC station KCEN in Waco that Larry Goodwin, 62, drove his tractor into a pile of wood, disturbing a hive of around 40,000 Africanized honey bees, colloquially known as “killer bees.”
He died after the bees swarmed his tractor. Goodwin, who is from the town of Moody, accidentally hit an abandoned chicken coop that contained around 22 hives of the bees.
A woman and her daughter who attempted to help Goodwinn were stung around 100 times, reported the Waco Tribune-Herald, citing McLennan County Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Matt Cawthon .
Allen Miller, the owner of Bees Be Gone, was called into remove the bees, according to the paper.
“You can’t believe how bad they are. They make me want to get out of this business,” Miller said. “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.”
Goodwin ran to a house about 50 yards away and tried to use a garden hose. A woman came out to help and was also stung. Goodwin was pronounced dead on the scene.
His daughters, Tanya Goodwin and Kelley Flores, released a joint statement to KCEN: “If anybody has any brush or anything on their lands, please clear it, because they don’t want to go through this. Nobody needs to go through this.”
African honey bees were taken to Brazil decades ago and some bred with European bees, creating the Africanized honey bee variety. There have been reports of the bees in California, Georgia, Texas, Florida, and other southern states.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
