Bee hunter, 70, thought killed by bees on Bueng Kan mountaintop

By The Nation

 

 

A 70-year-old villager was found dead on a mountain in Bueng Kan’s Bung Kla district on Wednesday morning after he went up to hunt for wild-bee honey, police said.

 

The Bung Kla police station was alerted at 5.30am that the body of Kanha Jumewong, 70, had been found on Phu Wua mountain about 4 kilometres from the office of the Phu Wua Wildlife Sanctuary.

 

Police, a doctor, rescue officials and some villagers hiked up the mountain for about three hours to reach the spot where Kanha was found.

 

His body was found in a kneeling position on the ground, and his clothes and boots had been burned. About 50 metres from his body a bin tied with a loin cloth was found under a large wild-bee hive.

 

Officials suspect that Kanha suffered multiple bee stings before preparing to die.

 

His wife, Salit Promwong, 60, told police that Kanha often went up the mountain with friends after he finished rubber milking in order to collect wild mushrooms and bee hives.

 

Salit said Kanha did not return in the evening and so she informed the community leader and wildlife officials, who sent a team to look for him. They found his body early in the morning.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30369814

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-05-22

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3 hours to walk 4km??!! That's just lazy.

1 hour ago, UnkleMoooose said:

3 hours to walk 4km??!! That's just lazy.

Sounds like they were hiking up hill, in the dark and searching as they went. 3 hours seems pretty reasonable under the circumstances

 

 

19 hours ago, webfact said:

Kanha often went up the mountain with friends after he finished rubber milking in order to collect wild mushrooms and bee hives.

It shows how behind the times Thailand and other countries are.  Bees are the great givers of life and should not have their habitats fooled with.  Sorry the old gent died, but people should not mess with wild things. 

 

Others countries in the region are just as bad.  In Malaysia, our work area had a hive and we called the fire department to ask them to move it.  That was a mistake. 

50 minutes ago, yellowboat said:

It shows how behind the times Thailand and other countries are.  Bees are the great givers of life and should not have their habitats fooled with.  Sorry the old gent died, but people should not mess with wild things. 

What the heck has getting honey has to do with being behind in time?????

Like you said: bees give and for as long peoples know about honey they just get in the woods to fnd it. That is why they even invented beehives to et it more easy. Is been done in every country all over the world.

 

Just wonder if he really died from stings. His boots and clothes burned?!

More to the story of course, but we will probably not see a follow-up. 

He used a loin cloth to close a bin?? What was in the bin? Why was there fire? By the look of the fire damaged bushes with their leaves already brown. The fire was at least a week before the picture was taken. So was he up there for a week? 

5 minutes ago, canuckamuck said:

More to the story of course, but we will probably not see a follow-up. 

He used a loin cloth to close a bin?? What was in the bin? Why was there fire? By the look of the fire damaged bushes with their leaves already brown. The fire was at least a week before the picture was taken. So was he up there for a week? 

All sensible questions!!!  Would he strip himself naked and burn his clothes because he was badly stung etc,  and died praying????   All sounds a bit weird.

I think the translation "loincloth" is confusing. They mean the pa Kao ma or the male style sarong. It is a multipurpose cloth, that is often tied around the waist, can be used to cover the head, or worn like a sarong. It is often used for other tasks such as swatting flies/mozzies, wrapping around food and covering containers, etc.  In other words, he had not taken off his undies before dying.    

On 5/22/2019 at 3:36 PM, webfact said:

His body was found in a kneeling position on the ground, and his clothes and boots had been burned. 

This is the bees trying to destroy the evidence ????

7 hours ago, Foexie said:

Just wonder if he really died from stings. His boots and clothes burned?!

Probably trying to smoke out the bees from their hive and his fire got out of control after many bee stings.

21 hours ago, UnkleMoooose said:

3 hours to walk 4km??!! That's just lazy.

 

21 hours ago, UnkleMoooose said:

 

Have you ever tried hiking in the mountains here?

If you had you would understand how difficult it is.

4 hours ago, colinneil said:

 

Have you ever tried hiking in the mountains here?

If you had you would understand how difficult it is.

I have, and I still do regularly, as I do throughout the mountains of Asia. Whereas you lay in bed all day don't you?

2 minutes ago, UnkleMoooose said:

I have, and I still do regularly, as I do throughout the mountains of Asia. Whereas you lay in bed all day don't you?

Nonsense i lived in a mountain village in northern Thailand for 15 months.

My accident happened 6 months after leaving the mountains, so please get your facts correct before trying to make me look stupid.