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Bees Attack At Trial Farm Gov’t School
posted (November 11, 2019)
This morning, 11 students and 2 staff members at Trial Farm Government School in Orange Walk were attacked by Africanized bees.

Now, we know that angry hives of Africanized Bees have killed before - and in the Orange Walk District. In this instance, however, the victims escaped shortly after they attacked, and so none of them were seriously hurt. The management of the school immediately took action and called in the Ministry of Agriculture to take care of the bee problem.

Our colleagues from CTV3 News spoke with the Principal and the Ministry of Agriculture employee about the incident. Here's what they had to say:

Nazira Romero - Principal, Trial Farm Government School
"This morning, when I went by the office, I saw that there were many students inside, and so, I quickly asked for an excuse and went inside. I was told by the vice-principal that the children had been stung by bees. And so, we started our emergency plan right away, which, the first thing is to contact the parents of the students who were stung. And then, I contacted the Ministry of Education for them to know what's happening here at school. And I proceeded to call the Ministry of Agriculture and ask them to please come quickly because there were bees behind our bathrooms. Upon investigation, we found out that the neighbors were cutting a tree, and by mistake, they cut a beehive. And that is why the bees came on to the campus. Parents started to come demanding that they want their children to go home, which, of course, I don't have the mandate to do. I cannot close classes, so I called back [the} Ministry, and they said to put my emergency plan in place. We were advised to relocate the students who are closest to the bathroom. We did that, and some parents still insisted that they want their child because they saw the gentlemen were really swollen up from the bee stings. With that, I started to allow parents to sign out for their students, but there are no bees on campus right now."

Miguel Huertas - Orange Walk Extension Officer, Ministry of Agriculture
"We took control over it. We eliminated completely the hive. We sprayed the colony; now it's under control."

"There are hives that just pass by, stop, and they just take a rest and continue [on their way]. But, the ones that stay, they find a perfect spot. They will stay on old tires, on a tree, or even on the house, and they begin to create honeycombs. Where there are honeycombs, honey, and there are bees, they will defend. Anything that bothers them, a hit, a person chopping around, any noise that they feel threatened [by], they will attack. And that's what we recommend, any person who sees bees, don't wait until the last minute. Report it as soon as you see it so that we can take care of it."

We are told that the school warden was taken to the hospital later in the morning after he was attacked by the bees. The Ministry of Agriculture employee says that the school's bee problem might not be completely over. There may have been bees which were away from the hive when they fumigated it. They recommend that the area where the hive is located be cordoned off to ensure that the bees either all leave, or are sprayed with insecticide at night.

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