A hiker in Arizona has been left in critical condition after being stung more than 100 times by bees on a mountain trail over the Easter weekend. The incident occurred on Saturday morning at Lookout Mountain Preserve in north Phoenix, prompting a rescue operation involving a helicopter airlift.
The man reported that the stings left him unable to descend from the summit. Technical rescue teams from Phoenix and Glendale responded, coordinating a hoist operation to extract him via a Firebird 10 helicopter. He was then transferred to an ambulance at the trailhead and taken to hospital in critical condition.
The local fire department used the incident to advise hikers to avoid disturbing hives, skip scented products outdoors, wear light-coloured clothing, and if encountering a swarm, to run quickly and protect the head and face. Dr Frank LoVecchio, a professor at Arizona State University, noted that bee venom can effectively crush muscle tissue and that Arizona's Africanized bees are highly aggressive, often swarming after minor disturbances.
Africanized bees have been a problem in Arizona since the 1990s. An unusually warm winter has increased bee activity, with Saturday's case being the latest in a series of such episodes. In a recent incident, five people were stung, with one hospitalised, after a swarm disrupted a women's lacrosse game in Tempe.
