The quiet district of Harlington, St Philip, was thrown into panic as two residents had to literally run for their lives after they came in contact with a swarm of bees a stone’s throw away from their home yesterday.
It was around noon that 59-year-old Jude Barrow found himself in a sticky situation when he attempted to dump the contents from a grease trap he had cleaned from his home on to nearby bushy area.
His aunt Ira Barrow, who tried to help him, was also stung, but it was he who sustained more than 50 stings and survived to tell the tale after he got medical treatment.
“When I was walking going over the road to dump the water I walk straight in a hive of bees. I did not know they were there. Nobody did,” he recalled.
Jude said he ran directly for a nearby pipe as he fanned to rid himself of the insects.
It was his frantic running that attracted his aunt’s attention. Soon after, she too felt the wrath of the buzzing insects.
The elderly woman said they turned on her as she tried to “lick them offa he. I had to run then and leave he. I end up falling down and then they bite me up too. But then my grandson [Shakir Barrow] light a sheet to create some smoke and that’s when they moved off and then I get the chance to get up and go inside.”
When the WEEKEND NATION paid the rural community a visit, Jude had just returned from Four Roads Medical Clinic about three miles away, where he was treated.
Shakir was not home at the time, but both victims said it was his action – lighting of the material in which he draped Jude – that caused the bees to take flight.
“If it wasn’t for them [Shakir and Ira] I probably would be worse,” Jude said.
Ira was stung on her right eye, resulting in swelling and Jude had bloodshot eyes. He also displayed the marks from the stings across his face and torso.
Jude said when he realised what was happening, the death of Nicholas Shepherd at Marchfield, St Philip, who died after he was attacked while picking mangoes, last June, came to mind.
Residents are now calling for the removal of the hive and the debushing of the area, which overlooks a quarry.
Both Keisha Barrow and Thelma Pollard said they made several calls to the police, the Ministry of Health, the Barbados Fire Service, and other bodies, which they thought were relevant.
They said since the land was private, it would cost them hundreds of dollars to remove.
“This is a small district and we are one, so we all have to be concerned about each other. There are a lot of children in the area, so I am glad that none were around when this happened, but over there needs to be looked at,” Pollard said. (TG)