Swarm of bees attacks, kills Texas farmer
AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas farmer who disturbed an underground bee colony while plowing a field died after he was stung hundreds of times by a swarm that attacked him, a fire official said on Monday.
Rogelio Zuniga, 53, was killed on Sunday in Rio Hondo, near the border with Mexico, said Raul Zuniga, Jr., the San Benito fire chief and a cousin of the victim.
Family members went to investigate after they noticed the victim’s tractor in a field with no one riding it, the fire chief said.
“They found him and he was covered with bees,” Zuniga said, adding the victim was dead on the scene.
The tractor was dragging discs that hit a concrete pipe once used for irrigation. The pipe contained a honeycomb about 15 to 20 feet long, and exterminators were called out to get rid of the colony, Zuniga said.
