A 20-year-old man is in a coma after being stung more than 20,000 times by killer bees in the United States, his family and local media reported Wednesday.
As of Tuesday evening, Austin Bellamy was on life support and in a voluntary coma at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in Ohio (North), according to local television channel Fox 19.
He is “fighting for his life,” his mother Shawna Carter said on a fundraising page created Monday for his medical care.
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Photo: AFP
On Friday morning, Austin Bellamy was pruning a lemon tree when he unwittingly cut down a nest of killer bees.
Also known as Africanized bees, these insects are particularly aggressive.
According to Fox 19, Austin Bellamy’s grandmother and uncle, who were nearby, saw the attack, unable to intervene as the bees swarmed themselves.
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AFP
“He was yelling ‘Help! Help! Help!’ was screaming and no one could help him,” said his grandmother, Phyllis Edwards.
“I was going to try to climb the ladder to reach Austin,” but “I couldn’t reach it because I was surrounded by bees,” she said.
Shawna Carter said the teenager was stung more than 20,000 times and consumed about 30 bees.
Caregivers “have until Sunday morning to remove the bees from him,” she told Fox 19.
According to a local outlet, doctors believe Austin Bellamy will make a full recovery.
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