French couple survive attack by "killer wasps" but trekking guide is killed

[webfact]

French couple survive attack by "killer wasps" but trekking guide is killed

 

Picture: Thai Rath

 

Thai Rath reported that two French tourists trekking in the Mae Ai district of Chiang Mai had survived an attack by a swarm of killer wasps. 

 

A French man was out of hospital but his 59 year old wife was still in hospital in Chiang Rai. The attack happened on Saturday.

 

Villagers in Pha Tai, Thaton informed the police that they had found their trekking guide dead from multiple stings. 

 

Investigators were unable to get to the corpse of the guide because the wasps were still swarming near the body. He was named as 58 year old Sanchai Phao-Arun.

 

Rescue teams were planning a further attempt to retrieve his body later. 

 

The media reported that the couple had been out on a nature trail with the guide. When the wasps attacked they all ran in different directions and they lost contact with the guide. He was only found some time later.

 

Villagers helped the foreigners get to hospital for treatment. 

 

The wasps were described as black with a furry body. 

 

Source: Thai Rath

 

 

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[andre47]

R.I.P ????

 

[SanookTeufel]

What?? What kind of wasps are these?

[cmsally]

Maybe Asian giant hornets ? Had to make detours a few times to avoid them, give them a wide berth. Looks like this group literally stumbled into them on the trail. Very nasty. Poor guy.

[SanookTeufel]

Just now, cmsally said:

Maybe Asian giant hornets ? Had to make detours a few times to avoid them, give them a wide berth. Looks like this group literally stumbled into them on the trail. Very nasty. Poor guy.

I sat next to some on a bench... There was 3 or 4... I sat there for a good minute or 2 before noticing (they were hiding behind the bench) Anyways, they seemed very docile during my encounter with them... I stayed further away from that bench after that though.

[Rimmer]

18 minutes ago, cmsally said:

Maybe Asian giant hornets ? Had to make detours a few times to avoid them, give them a wide berth. Looks like this group literally stumbled into them on the trail. Very nasty. Poor guy.

Yes also suspect Asian Hornets, having been stung by them several times from nests in the garden I can say it is most painful and lasts for a couple of weeks after being stung.

I remember we once had a hasher stung several times by these guys he was in so much pain and went into shock he had to be hospitalized.

[VocalNeal]

from my experience and limited knowledge there predators are mammals so they don't like CO2. If they are downwinf from CO2 and they think the colony is in danger.

[BMW Overlander]

There was a nest under my bedroom window. Lived in fear for weeks until local guy told me to pour gasoline on the nest. So I did, 3-4 hours later they were all gone forever.

[Guest]

Excellent video Giant Wasps (Asia)
 

 

[timendres]

13 minutes ago, bangkokequity said:

Excellent video Giant Wasps (Asia)
 

 

OMG!

[Assurancetourix]

3 hours ago, cmsally said:

Maybe Asian giant hornets ? Had to make detours a few times to avoid them, give them a wide berth. Looks like this group literally stumbled into them on the trail. Very nasty. Poor guy.

 

Maybe wild bees ;

There was a nest in an ilang-ilang in our garden;
I wanted to photograph them and I approached too much;
a good part of them attack me;
some stung me, one in an eyebrow;
the bites were very painful and lasted a long time;
If they have been stung by a whole nest of hundreds of bees, they are lucky to be alive.
RIP for the guide 

 

 

[cheshiremusicman]

These Asian Hornets are extremely dangerous and should be avoided at all cost. I had a nest of them in a bush in the garden (unbeknown to me) and happened to catch the bush with some ladders I was using and I was attacked by three of them and got stung on the knee. Extremely painful which lasted for about three days before dying down. Some two weeks after my ankle felt as though it was almost paralysed. The doctor told me that the toxin can stay in your body for months and if you are unfortunate to get stung again by one of these hornets it can possibly kill you. I waited until evening and poured petrol on the bush and lit it with a long stick which had a petrol rag on the end which burnt the nest in seconds and I was darned glad to get rid of it.

About two years ago, two Thai men were killed by these hornets whilst trying to raid a hornets nest for the grubs south of Hua-Hin. One man did survive, but was in hospital for months before recovering from the toxin.  

[IraqRon]

A local guide, chiang rai area, was stung to death a couple of years ago while leading tourists on a trek.  seems some hill tribe people had been hunting in the area and stirred the wasps up inadvertently.  Really sad to see it happen to these guys.

[cmsally]

32 minutes ago, Assurancetourix said:

 

Maybe wild bees ;

There was a nest in an ilang-ilang in our garden;
I wanted to photograph them and I approached too much;
a good part of them attack me;
some stung me, one in an eyebrow;
the bites were very painful and lasted a long time;
If they have been stung by a whole nest of hundreds of bees, they are lucky to be alive.
RIP for the guide 

 

 

 

Those look like Paper Wasps.

[Assurancetourix]

Thank you very much cmsally ;

I went on Wiki to know more about these animals : แตน in thai language .

 

" Because they are a known pollinator and feed on known garden pests, paper wasps are often considered to be beneficial by gardeners "

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_wasp

[steven100]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Rescue teams were planning a further attempt to retrieve his body later.

[NCC1701A]

1 hour ago, bangkokequity said:

Excellent video Giant Wasps (Asia)
 

 

One may rethink your walk in the jungle.

 

[kamahele]

Is this different than the "royal bees" which are aggressive but are supposed to bring good luck? Had to live with one of their nests in the yard for 6 months until they moved away to avoid bad luck lol. Couldn't keep the outside lights on at night as they swarm at the light.

[bkkgriz]

Japanese Giant Hornet. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_giant_hornet

Didn't think they were in Thailand. 

[cmsally]

22 minutes ago, kamahele said:

Is this different than the "royal bees" which are aggressive but are supposed to bring good luck? Had to live with one of their nests in the yard for 6 months until they moved away to avoid bad luck lol. Couldn't keep the outside lights on at night as they swarm at the light.

If you are in the North of Thailand , the ones that most people regard as lucky and won't move the nests are called "min".

Not too sure what the proper name for these are but they are very dark and can build some huge nests. Luckily they mostly like to build nests high in trees (but not always). They don't seem very aggressive though.

[ttrd]

2 hours ago, BMW Overlander said:

There was a nest under my bedroom window. Lived in fear for weeks until local guy told me to pour gasoline on the nest. So I did, 3-4 hours later they were all gone forever.

.... they may come back when they are empty for gasoline - for a refill ...

[canuckamuck]

Generally it is always these guys. Vespa Tropica. Big colonies, sting like a land mine, and can be aggressive.

[Jaxxper]

Unfortunate event.  Hope for the quick recovery of the tourists and condolences to the guides family. RIP.

[Mark mark]

4 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

from my experience and limited knowledge there predators are mammals so they don't like CO2. If they are downwinf from CO2 and they think the colony is in danger.

So I wonder how they go on Smoking ! ? The Guide probably having a smoke in his Mouth ? ... Well worth steering well clear of, like I never would have Believed it ! Having worked in the Jungle and other Places at the head of Scheismic lines Like we were the first ones to find the Bee and wasps nests !!!  Knocked over by the Buldozes, in the Old days in Auz, Bulldozers being out now I do believe .... or the Rentis crew in the tropics ... .... But well, yearrr ! It looks like these little bastards are WELL worth looking out for. .... Like I also wonder how much Cross Pollinating they do ? ... They say that 60% of Main Land Europe's Insects, are going to be gone in a few Years ! and that this will produce Immense problems for Farmers re getting their Crops Cross Pollinated ! ... 

 

So I usually try to let them go and keep them in our Garden, ... though well TIT ... If I am not there they get Burnt out and Annihilated. ... Maybe now I can see why ! ? ...

[ttrd]

21 minutes ago, canuckamuck said:

Generally it is always these guys. Vespa Tropica. Big colonies, sting like a land mine, and can be aggressive.

Only 30 of them manage to kill 30.000 honey bees in just 3 hours to get access to the larvae ....

 

 

[GeorgeCross]

5 hours ago, Rimmer said:

Yes also suspect Asian Hornets, having been stung by them several times from nests in the garden I can say it is most painful and lasts for a couple of weeks after being stung.

I remember we once had a hasher stung several times by these guys he was in so much pain and went into shock he had to be hospitalized.

 

i got stung twice by them and it was insane - like being hit by a taser, pure white out, couldn't see for about 5 seconds before my head cleared, was just running blind though the jungle, probably 50 times more painful than a standard western bee sting, with a weird sensation like it punched you

 

 

[Bruce404]

    

We had a nest of these critters.  There are actually several varieties of genus and species of aggressive "wasps" or "hornets", for which the local terminology is often translated as "tiger head wasps".

 

The first time I encountered them I was lucky.  In running away they stung me twice behind my knee through thick pants of blue denim jeans.  Unlike bees, they do not die upon stinging.

 

A week or two later, I got stung once or twice on an un-gloved hand.  It was painful, of course, and over the next few days the hand swelled up to twice its normal size, taking two or three weeks to return to normal size and the prolonged itchiness to subside.  

 

After that, I called in professional exterminators who sprayed white liquid insecticide to the nest about 4 meters above the ground.  (Gasoline and fire might have worked, but are dangerous to use in many situations or near flammable objects.)  The photograph is a sample of the dead critters the exterminators provided me afterwards.  Notice the very thin waists of the wasps/hornets, different from other photos posted by others.

 

If the hand swelling after the initial stings weeks before had been an induced allergic reaction, stings on the neck or nearby might have caused serious and even fatal blockage of airways by tissue swelling and anaphylactic shock. 

 

If one has risk of being exposed to such stinging insects, especially after having a previous exposure to their stings, it would be a good idea to carry a bee-sting kit (epinephrine ["adrenaline"] and hypodermic syringes) and know how to use them.  The life you save may be your own, or that of a loved one.

 

 

[worgeordie]

There was a story on the BBC just the other day,about Asia Hornets

arriving in the UK.

 

Twice we have those very big  black and yellow hornets nests in the

eves of the house,tackled them at night,with, big pole with some termite

spray on a cloth,and forced it into the nest, by the next afternoon,

they had the nest all repaired as good as new,next put petrol on the

rag and pushed it into nest,had to do that a few times to finally get

rid of them,we have a couple of bee nests in the garden but just

leave them alone.

regards worgeordie

[Borzandy]

6 hours ago, SanookTeufel said:

What?? What kind of wasps are these?

They are Thai

[Knocker33]

6 hours ago, cmsally said:

Maybe Asian giant hornets ? Had to make detours a few times to avoid them, give them a wide berth. Looks like this group literally stumbled into them on the trail. Very nasty. Poor guy.

wife got stung by one of these a few weeks ago. Hand swelled up like a balloon. Nasty little bustards