Man thought he was dead when a swarm of bees attacked.
About 60 people a year die from bee or wasp stings and Richard Garcia of thought for certain he was about to become one of them after a swarm of bees descended upon and stung him nearly 300 times in San Marcos, Texas.
Fox 7 Austin reports the incident happened last Thursday while Garcia was mowing the lawn at his aunt's house. The attack started subtly, just a few light taps on his head. This quickly morphed into a full-blown attack.
"I was covered with bees all on top of my head, all on my face, they were trying to go into my mouth," Garcia told the news station.
Walter Schumaker, a beekeeper, told the news station that the bees likely became agitated by the sound and vibration of the lawn mower. That is when they marked Garcia with a pheromone, signaling the rest of the insects to swarm a potential threat to the nest, which was located in the roof of the house.
Garcia said he fell at least twice while trying to escape. As the bees swarmed him, Garcia become convinced this it.
"I was literally just thinking of giving up, I thought my life was gonna be ended right here," Garcia said.
He further said that he believed his parents were his guardian angels that convinced him to get back up and flee across the street to a neighbor's home for help. Fire department crews had to use a hose to get the swarm off Garcia. He was transported to a hospital where despite an estimated 300 stings, he was released after six hours, lucky to be alive.
"I'm alive and I know that my parents are watching over me and that way they could watch over me today as I'm here facing my fears here as they remove the bees," Garcia.
As you can probably guess, a near-death experience like this is quite traumatic. Garcia said he wanted to face his fears because he can still hear the buzzing sounds. They have woken him up a few times already.
"I wanna face my fear, so that way I can sleep comfortably and know that they're gone," Garcia said.
Beekeepers removed the hive from the home and transported it to a new location. The hive was estimated to be home to 50,000-70,000 honeybees.
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