RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

Swarming Bees Kill Elderly Couple

An elderly Texas couple were killed by bees this week after they apparently tried to remove the insects from a fireplace in a house on a remote ranch, the Valley Morning Star reported Wednesday.

William Steele, 90, died Monday in the house on a ranch outside Hebbronville, Texas, about 100 miles west of Corpus Christi. His wife, Myrtle Steele, 92, died Tuesday after she was flown to a Corpus Christi hospital, the couple's daughter-in-law, Judy Steele, told the newspaper.

Judy Steele told the paper that the bees swarmed when her father-in-law sprayed a hive the insects had built in the small home's fireplace.

Her husband, Richard Steele, was with his parents when the attack occurred, Judy Steele, told the Morning Star. He was also stung but was able to drive several miles to the nearest phone to call emergency services, she said. There is no cell phone service in the remote area, she said.

Jim Hogg County sheriff's deputies responded and told the paper they were able to get Myrtle Steele out of the house.

“We were getting stung in the process, but we were able to place a blanket over her and take her to an awaiting ambulance – we did what we could,” the paper quoted Deputy Reyes Espinoza as saying. William Steele died inside, Espinoza said.

Judy Steele said her mother-in-law was stung more than 300 times.

Espinoza told the paper the species of bee involved in the attack had not been identified and the hive had yet to be removed from the house.

Source = www.cnn.com

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

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There are emergency calls and there are EMERGENCY calls of the 911 variety! This one was certainly a doozy! Our client called us to say that their rail cars of freight are stuck in the yard because their trains plus employees are being attacked by a swarm of bees. They connected the rail cars and this jolt ticked off the bees then when an employed whacked the hive with a stick he sent the bees into total attack mode! When this happens they release an aggression pheromone that tells all bees in the hive to attack anything in the area. This is how people are killed from bee stings.

This situation shut down the rail car with an estimated $12 million dollars in freight for ½ a day. The delays affected the company and their clients operations costing probably another several million dollars! The picture was taken from the safety of my truck. Once the hive began to calm down we used a bee keep to safely remove the hive and queen and relocate them. Since the threat to human safety was removed EHS decided to humanely remove the honey bees as they are beneficial insects to our ecosystem.

Frank Diaz
Service Specialist
Environmental Health Services, Inc.

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA