Man stung to death while harvesting hornets

A 60-year-old man died on the way to hospital after being stung by Asian giant hornets while he was attempting to harvest a hive in Hsinchu County, in the evening of October 11.

Mr Wang, from Beipu Township went to a remote valley with four other men to harvest hornets from a hive he had located several days before.

Mr Wang was only wearing basic protective equipment, according firefighters.

Wang was wearing a headlamp, which is believed to have drawn the hornets to attack him on the head, as that is where the majority of stings were concentrated. Wang was also stung on the hands. Reports say that Wang was stung up to 20 times and suffered a severe allergic reaction.

Wang’s friends called the fire bureau to report the incident at around 10:20 pm. Firefighters dressed in protective equipment located the men at around 11:30 pm.

Wang had already lost vital signs by the time firefighters arrived. It took more than an hour to carry Wang to the ambulance by stretcher.

Wang was declared dead a short time after arriving at the Zhudong branch of National Taiwan University Hospital.

The larvae of the Asian giant hornet is considered a delicacy for some. The lack of typhoons this year is said to have led to a proliferation of Asian giant hornet nests around Taiwan, and there have been many reports of attacks in the last couple of months.

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