We are
accustomed to reports speaking about attacks by American drones in
border areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan against terrorists and
the casualties caused to them. I never knew that nature has its own
drones, who attack and kill human beings. Yet it is true. This
nature's drone, is popularly known as a Hornet or a wasp, but it
attacks the humans in the same deadly and vicious way these American
built drones do.
Chinese
media report that At least 28 people have died and hundreds injured
in a series of attacks by giant hornets in northwest China. The
South China Morning Post reported yesterday ( 26 September 2013)
that most of the casualties were in remote areas of three cities in
southern Shaanxi province. More than 230 people have been stung in
the city of Ankang alone, which is the hardest hit with 18 of the
total deaths in the past three months. One of the persons being
treated for acute renal failure at a hospital in Ankang, after he was
stung on the head and legs says that the insects chased him more
than 600 feet. Besides Ankang town, attacks by the Hornets have taken
place over a period of several weeks in and around the towns of
Hanzhong and Shangluo in Shaanxi province.
The
insects that are in news are known as the Asian giant hornets, which
are about 2 inches long, have highly toxic venom that is injected
into a person with a quarter-inch stinger. Multiple stings can prove
fatal if the victim is not immediately given medical treatment. There
are two varieties of Hornets that are attacking humans in China with
biological names: the Asian giant hornet, or Vespa mandarinia, and
the smaller Asian hornet, or Vespa velutina nigrithorax.
In
rural areas of central China, hornet attacks are very common but the
fatalities are limited to few case every year. But this year the
problem has been unusually severe with so many people being killed
and hundreds more injured, possibly due to warmer weather, which
boosts breeding. Sometimes wind blows away hornets nests which
agitates them and they attack anyone in the vicinity. A number of
tragic cases have been reported this year, which include: a mother
and son who died after being surrounded by a swarm a man trying to
help suffered kidney failure after the giant hornets chased him for
200 metres and stung him repeatedly on the head and legs, a 68 year
old man was attacked furiously and was killed; Some have survived
though. A 55-year old woman victim reported she was stung more than
200 times during a three-minute-long attack, leaving her incontinent
and stuck in hospital for over a month. A construction worker was
injured when he accidentally poured soil from his excavator onto a
nest.
Deputy
director of the Shaanxi Bee and Wasp Industry Association, says that
Hornets are carnivorous and can quickly destroy even bee colonies.
Even hundreds or even thousands of hornets could live in a single
nest and if the nest gets destroyed they would go mad and attack
anything in their way. Ankang city's fire department has taken up a
programme to remove the Hornet's nests and have removed over 300
hornet nests from crowded residential areas since July 2013 in an
attempt to address the problem. Local government officials are
considering giving the victims financial subsidies to deal with the
medical costs involved in medical treatment after being bitten.
No
wonder that drones are deadly, whether man made or made by nature.
Both kill.
28th
September 2013
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