800,000 Bees Attack: Africanized Killer Bees Stings Gardener 100 Times Over And Kills Him, Four Others Injured, What Led To The Attack?

800,000 bees attack - A colossal swarm of Africanized killer bees, estimated to be around 800,000, attacked four landscapers in southern Arizona Wednesday morning. One man died, and another was critically injured after getting stung more than 100 times during the 800,000 bees attack.

According to Douglas Fire Chief Mario Novoa, his department answered a call Wednesday morning. The crew arrived on the scene of the 800,000 bees attack and found five people severely stung by the bees, with some still swarming, CNN reports.

The department explained that the men had been mowing grass and weeding for a 90-year-old man who had a home near the hive in Douglas, Ariz. The insects came out of a 3-by-8-foot hive in an attic while they were doing were work. The Africanized killer bees soon attacked the group of gardeners.

Some of the emergency responders treated the victims of the 800,000 bees attack, while others roved the neighborhood to warn residents to close their windows and stay indoors.

The gardener killed by the 800,000 bees attack was a 32-year-old male. He went into cardiac arrest and his face and neck was found covered by the killer swarm when rescue teams arrived, according to Capt. Ray Luzania of the Douglas Fire Department, as told to the Arizona Daily Star.

He was not the only victim stung severely during the 800,000 bees attack. A colleague of the deceased had been taken to a nearby hospital with more than 100 bee stings.

Fire Chieft Novoa said an exterminator found the hive on the eave of a house by cutting through part of its ceiling. The exterminator estimated the number of kiler bees through the size of the hive.

According to Douglas officials, the 800,000 bees attack happened as one man in the crew of gardeners used a lawnmower and roused the Africanized honey bees from their hive, reported NBC News.

Novoa told USA Today that since there are only a few honey bees left in the area, "we treat them all as Africanized [killer] bees."

Neither of the two 800,000 bees attack victims had been publicly named.

The man who survived the multitude of stings was released from the hospital after being treated.

According to the Washington Post, the two other workers who had been stung refused treatment. A neighbor, who was also left stung after the 800,000 bees attack just drove to the hospital.

Meanwhile, reports say that the 90-year-old homeowner was left unharmed.

It takes only little effort for killer bees to become excited, reports the Washington Post - even small noises or vibrations have reportedly been known to do it.

It's not typically the venom from Africanized killer bees that could kills a person. Apparently, it's the number of stings from bees that could kill a man, said Professor May Berenbaum at the University of Illinois's Department of Entomology, told CBS News last year.

With killer bees, "the venom is not more toxic," she cited. When disturbed, "they are more likely to pursue the source of disturbance more consistently."

"Bee venom is a cocktail of biologically active components that are designed to inflict pain. The honey bee stings only defensively - they don't try to kill, they try to educate," Berenbaum added.

After the 800,000 bees attack on Wednesday, firefighters in bee suits reportedly surrounded the home.

An exterminator who was called in to kill the bees estimated the colony to be over 10 years old. According to him, the honeycomb was so compressed that it was already pushing the bees out. They had apparently begun building another nest nearby already.

"They were dropping down at me even before I started approaching it," exterminator Jesus Corella told Tucson News Now. "That was before I started spraying. They were dive-bombing me and that's a sign to back off, back way off," he added.

Novoa said the hive which housed the insects from the 800,000 bees attack filled a 55-gallon drum after extermination.

According to Berenbaum, there are about 40 fatal attacks, such as the Wednesday 800,000 bees attack, per year.

For those allergic of bee stings, a sting can reportedly cause anaphylactic shock.

It remains unknown whether the 800,000 bees attack victims had allergies to the bee stings.

Douglas fire department, located about 120 miles southeast of Tucson, reportedly receives a couple of bee calls per week.

The 800,000 bees attack on Wednesday cannot be compared to the other calls the fire department has received in the past. "We get calls about bees fairly often but I've never seen anything to this extent. This is the first time we have recorded a death in our community from bees," said Novoa.