Bees on Saturday attacked a group of Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) workers at Bath, West Coast Berbice leaving one man dead and another hospitalised.
Dead is Romesh Lalaram, 54, of Shieldstown, West Coast Berbice. In a statement, GuySuCo said that around 12:45pm on Saturday, some of its employees were in the old Bath Field on the road to the estate cultivation when they were attacked by a swarm of bees. Lalaram was among several persons who were stung and they were all rushed to the Fort Wellington Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Six of the seven employees were treated and sent home while one remains in the hospital, GuySuCo said.
The hospitalised man, Aftar Ali, told Stabroek News that they were waiting on fuel to refuel the tractor so they would be able to take the cane out of the fields, when the swarm of bees appeared. “I ain’t know if is a cow went into the bush because is the last field we went…I don’t know if is the cow go in the bush and raise and aggravate the bees but the cow come running out with a speed and the bees with a same speed,” he recounted.
As he was sitting on top of the tractor, he was the first to be stung by the bees, Ali related.
“It was nuff, like thousands and they come out and they start from one side and ketch me first. They start stinging me first and after I start hollering the rest of people heard and start to run,” Ali said. He recounted that the first thing that came to his mind when the bees started to attack was to lay still on the ground.
“Well the only thing I coulda think about at that time was that people does say that if you lay down and don’t move, they does fly over you but that was wrong, it was dead wrong. When I lay down on the ground they hold onto me more and strong and I get up and shout for help but nobody couldn’t come because they were all hiding from the bees too. One man under the tractor, one man behind the wheel and all sorts of thing,” Ali recalled.
He said during the attack, one of the workers shouted to him and told him to jump into the nearby trench but he was hesitant since he could not swim. “One of them big man holla to run in the trench but I can’t swim so I jump in the sideline trench which was shallow and me whole body deep in the water except me head out and the bees still attacking me and stinging me head,” Ali recalled as he rubbed his swollen faced and pointed out the marks.
The man said in the water, he grabbed as much mud as he could and dabbed it over his entire head and face. “I just start taking the mud and rubbing it on me head and face and neck and squishing the bees. I didn’t know how much they had but I just grabbing and squishing them with me hand while they still stinging me,” Ali said, recounting that at that moment, he saw Lalaram jump in behind him.
“He [Lalaram] jump in but like the bees de already attack he nuff and by he (old) he couldn’t move that much or get the mud on he and he just screaming ‘ow God, ow God, ow God’ and it was horrifying. I couldn’t do anything, he calling for help but me and nobody else coulda do nothing because it was nuff, nuff bees,” Ali tearfully recalled.
He said when he looked, he saw Lalaram leave the trench in an attempt to get to the larger canal. Ali said after Lalaram went back onto the dam, he collapsed face forward and the swarm of bees attacked his entire body.
“He went back and the bees just start attacking he more and he start screaming and like two screams and it just stop and the bees just cover his whole body and he was just lying there and I signal the others and seh ‘ow buddy ya’ll see how that man deh’ but nobody coulda do anything,” Ali said.
According to him, the emotionally scarring experience lasted for about an hour. The man recounted that after the bees eased up attacking him because of the mud, he fled the canal and ran towards the road where he found one of the trucks. He said after he told the people in the trucks about what had occurred, they rushed inside and lit fires to scare away the bees. He said after the bees had dispersed, they were all rushed to the hospital.
“When I went in the hospital the man body de laying on the bed next to me and I numb, numb and I start panic cause I thinking I woulda die too and plus how he family screaming I really thought I was going to die,” Ali said.
However, the doctors were able to stabilise him and he is currently recovering.
Lalaram’s son Nateram told Stabroek News that he found out what had transpired via a phone call as he was at school. “I received a call around 3pm that bees attacked him and they took him to the hospital and when we got there he was pronounced dead,” he said.
While it was not unusual for workers to be attacked by bees, it has never happened on such a scale with a fatality, residents said. GuySuCo expressed condolences to the Lalaram family and said the corporation is liaising closely with the family to provide support.
