BENGALURU: Villagers of Kempatti wanted to turn the last journey of a centenarian woman into a grand affair. However, it turned into a tragic anti-climax when a swarm of wild bees attacked the grieving villagers, killing one person on the spot and injuring four others.
Police said the incident occurred at Kempatti, which is on Karnataka’s border with Tamil Nadu. The injured have been admitted to St John’s Hospital in Bengaluru. When 102-year-old Ramakka died on Tuesday night, the villagers wanted to perform the last rites in a grand manner, since she was the senior-most person in the village.
She died of natural causes on Tuesday night. The villagers decorated a bier. On Wednesday morning, a group of 25 people was bursting crackers and walking with the bier to perform the last rites, when it touched a tree. “Suddenly, a swarm of bees descended from a tree the group was passing by and attacked them,” an eyewitness told the police.
The group started running helter-skelter, pushing Ramakka’s body into a pit. Eyewitnesses said there were nearly 1,000 bees. Unfortunately, the attack killed Rajappa (55), a native of Kempatti village. The villagers managed to chase the bees away and rushed the injured to a hospital in Anekal.