KEONJHAR: Around 50 students and a teacher of Radhakrushna High School, Pitapiti suffered injuries after being attacked by a large swarm of honeybees at Harichandanpur, around 40 km from Keonjhar town on Monday.
The incident took place at around 7.30 am when the students along with the teacher were on way to appear the ongoing matriculation examination at Harichandanpur Girls’ High School. A student, identified as Biswanath Juang, and teacher Kishore Chandra Mohanty became serious after suffering multiple bee stings.
Sources said Harichandanpur Girls’ High School has been designated as the matriculation examination centre for students of Radhakrushna High School. In the morning, the students accompanied by Mohanty left for their centre to appear the English examination which was scheduled on the day.
After reaching their examination centre at Harichandanpur, they were standing under a banyan tree outside when a swarm of bees ferociously attacked them. Taken aback by the sudden attack, the students ran for their life. While most of them managed to reach to safety, Mohanty suffered severe stings and fainted on the spot. Juang too became critical after the attack.
As the injured student was unable to sit for the examination, locals and school authorities rushed him to Harichandanpur community health centre. After preliminary treatment, Juang was brought back to Harichandanpur Girls’ High School where he took the test, informed superintendent of the examination centre Sushant Kumar Sethi.
Locals said a day back, a bird had destroyed a large colony of honeybees on the banyan tree located in front of the Harichandanpur school. Since Sunday evening, there were a few reports of the bees attacking villagers. Unaware of the situation, the students decided to rest under the tree and faced the bee attack.
The matriculation examination commenced from Friday and will end on March 17.