Rad­hi­ca Sookraj

Fire­fight­ers res­cued a bot­tle col­lec­tor yes­ter­day af­ter he was at­tacked by a swarm of bees while walk­ing along the San Fer­nan­do By­pass. Up to late yes­ter­day, Mukesh Per­sad re­mained ward­ed in a se­ri­ous con­di­tion at the San Fer­nan­do Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal. He was stung on the up­per body and head.

Po­lice said Per­sad was col­lect­ing bot­tles along the By­pass when, on reach­ing near Mon Re­pos Fire Head­quar­ters, the bees at­tacked him. Per­sad ran but could not es­cape the bees. Dri­vers who were in the area alert­ed fire of­fi­cers from the Mon Re­pos sta­tion.

Act­ing Fire Sub Sta­tion of­fi­cer Suresh Soon­dar and fire­men Ray­mond Smith, Mar­celle Men­tor, Em­rith Ram­nanan, Ko­ro Forbes and Bar­ry Ma­haraj re­spond­ed. The fire­men res­cued Per­sad and took him to an am­bu­lance. Soon­dar com­mend­ed his team of of­fi­cers for their quick re­sponse. He said Smith risked his life by grab­bing Per­sad while the bees flew around him.

Soon­dar said even though they were not equipped to deal with the bees, they could not stand by and not help Per­sad. "It is a hu­man life and as soon as we saw him in dis­tress we had to do every­thing to save him. We sprayed the bees and when they re­treat­ed we took the vic­tim to the hos­pi­tal. Fire­fight­er Smith al­so got a few stings. He was treat­ed and dis­charged.

A team of of­fi­cers from the Craig­nish Api­aries Unit went to the area but were un­able to find the bees. Bee han­dler Steve Charles said it was pos­si­ble that the bees were in tran­sit when they at­tacked Per­sad. He ex­plained that the bees were vi­cious as they were a mix of African­ised and Ital­ian strains. Mon Re­pos po­lice are con­tin­u­ing in­ves­ti­ga­tions.