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Hiker Falls 200 Feet After Bee Attack
POSTED: 7:15 am MST May 20,
2008
UPDATED: 7:49 am MST May 20,
2008
PHOENIX -- A hiker who went off a South Mountain trail Monday was attacked by a swarm of bees before falling 200 feet into a ravine, Phoenix firefighters said.The man, who is in his early 30s, was hiking alone around 5:30 p.m. when he left the trail to hike up a gully and was ambushed by hundreds of bees."He was waving his shirt and then he was actually just full of bees," said hiker Ken MacKenzie, who witnessed the incident.When the hiker tried to escape the bees, he fell.
"He probably fell about 200 feet off of that trail and down into a ravine. He was all broken bones and cut up and tangled up in cholla cactus," said Capt. Lewis Jones of the Phoenix Fire Technical Team.Phoenix police Officer Craig Churella was the first responder. He tried to reach the hiker but was forced to retreat."He was absolutely covered in bees. It was quite the sight. I couldn't get any closer -- they started attacking me," Churella said.Jones' technical team donned special suits to perform the lengthy rescue."It was difficult just because, mainly because of the terrain. And then to compound the problem is we had to put on these hot bee suits," Jones said.Temperatures Monday broke records, reaching 110 degrees in Phoenix.The rescuers started an IV on the hiker before hooking him to a rescue helicopter and hoisting him off the mountain. He was taken to a local hospital and is expected to be OK.MacKenzie said he's seen mountain lions, wolves and coyotes in the wild, but "nothing like a swarm of bees around, in particular, one person."Capt. Victor Rangel said firefighters haven't seen an increase in bee attacks, but are often called out to rescue people who were unprepared to hike up a mountain. Rangel said the best thing to bring on a hike is a cell phone.ELSEWHERE ON KPHO.COM: A personal video diary captures one woman’s most vulnerable moments as her daily struggle to lose weight was slowly killing her. CLICK HERE for details. MORE SLIDESHOWS: From the bizarre to the tragic to late-breaking news, visit the KPHO.com slideshow section and click away! CLICK HERE for images.
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