Bengaluru: After the death of seven-year-old girl stung by bees on the same day at last year’s Lalbagh Flower show, two youngsters have been admitted to the ICU this year after being stung at the crowded botanical garden.
Hanumantha Gowda (28) and Shivaraj (25) were reportedly stung around 3-3:15 PM on Monday afternoon and were rushed to South City Hospital on RV road, Lalbagh Upparahalli. The 10-day flower show that started on August 8 will open to the public till August 18. Traffic police tweeted on Monday saying that a lakh visitors had thronged the flower show on Independence Day.
Lingaraj, brother of Hanumantha, told TNIE that he had reached South City directly and that the doctors had told him nothing can be said till after six hours. “Hanumantha works as a lab technician in Sri Guru Raghavendra Diagnostics Lab in Peenya. I am a factory worker. He had been to the flower show with his friend. I went to the hospital directly on getting a call from his friend Prakash. I don’t know about my brother’s condition yet.”
South City hospital staff said the two patients had been kept in the ICU and one Dr Harshith was treating them. “They both are stable for now. But we will keep them under observation for 24-48 hours,” a staffer said.
Chandrashekhar, deputy director of horticulture (Gardens), said, “There was so much rush today that there was no place to get a foothold at the show. It’s probably why we never received any reports of this bee attack. However, we have emergency medical services and a portable ICU. We have five specialists. One ambulance of Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain Hospital is located on double road, and another one near the main gate.”
The organisers of the Lalbagh Flower show came under criticism after a seven-year-old girl, Vaishnavi, died after being stung by bees last year on Independence Day. Her grandparents reportedly committed suicide this year by jumping in front of a train, and left a note that they were ending their lives unable to bear the death of their granddaughter which left them devastated.