Man called 911 about vicious bee swarm

AUSTIN (KXAN) - An elderly man stung more than 500 times in a bee swarm has been upgraded to fair condition Thursday after being swarmed by angry honeybees while doing yard work Wednesday afternoon.

Emergency crews transported Willard Duncan, 85, to University Medical Center Brackenridge after the incident at 1000 East 13th Waller St. , near 13th and Waller streets .

A passerby who saw the swarm attack the man called 911. Click here to listen to the call.

"There are bees, like hundreds, swarming around a guy that can't get up off the ground. Thousands," said the man, describing the scene to the 911 dispatcher. "I don't know what to do in the meantime."

"You've got to hurry up," continued the man, whose tone remained fairly calm in the frantic situation. "I don't know if there's anything we can do in the meantime."

Transcription of parts of the 911 phone call

• Dispatcher: "And, is he currently being attacked by bees?"
• Caller: "Yes, yes he is. Badly."
• Dispatcher: "Is there any way you can pull the man ... Can you get close enough to ... "
• Caller: "No, no. I'll be totally ... no. I mean, it's crazy."
• Dispatcher: "Is there any way the man can get up and run?"
• Caller: "Now they're coming at me. I'm down the street." Hear yelling and cursing.
• Dispatcher: "Sir, you need to hang up the phone and get a safe distance from being attacked."
• Caller: "OK. OK."

A friend the victim found him lying in the road and also called 911.

“I turned around the corner and seen Mr. Duncan laying on the ground," said Wayne William. "He was lying on his side. His hair was golden and had bees swarming all around. You step out 10-20 feet, and there was another perimeter of bees like they built a barricade around him.”

“I got stung in the back of my head, and that was my cue to get the hell out of here. And that’s what I did,” he said.

Crews arrived to find the victim in the street with the hundreds of bee stings. Though he was conscious, officials said the man was unable to talk, badly swollen in his face. The man even had bees in his nose, officials said.

In addition, a paramedic received a few treatable stings.

Officials worked for nearly two hours to find the hive, unsure of the location of the bee source, but were unable to locate one. Instead, a beekeeper said it may have been a moving swarm hiding in a grass patch - a patch the victim may have inadvertently mowed over.

“And they get pretty defensive. Like this gentleman mowing the lawnmower. You never want to mow around a bee hive, they don’t like lawnmowers,” said Brandon Ferhenkamp with Austinbees.com .

He has a website that specializes in bee care and treatment.

The beekeper said the bees looked like "your average honeybee," though the beekeper said they were probably agitated.

In addition to private handlers called to the scene, four- to five firefighters donned bee suits to try and assess the situation.

Meanwhile, bee drones swarmed as far as a block away from where the incident happened. The Austin Police Department helped with traffic, blocking off neighborhoods from 12th to 14th streets on Waller Street, including a block east and west. The situation had been cleared by Wednesday afternoon.

Swarming is a natural means of reproduction of bee colonies. It's mainly a spring phenomenon, but can also happen during the summer.

Most bees attack in response to some sort of intrusion against their hive. If that happens - here's what you need to know:

• Run as fast as you can far away from the attack began.
• Get inside a building as fast as possible.
• Jumping in the water may not help because bees may still be above you when you resurface.
• As soon as you're safe, start to remove the stingers as quickly as possible to keep as much venom out of your body as possible.
• And lastly, call or have someone call 911 for you.