Daniel Owen and his son, Cooper, died after being attacked by hornets during a family holiday in Laos
A father and son were killed after a swarm of wild Asian hornets stung them more than a hundred times during a holiday to Laos.
Daniel Owen, 47, and Cooper, 15, died earlier this month on October 15th while ziplining. The hornets swarmed the pair as they were descending from a tree.
They were taken to a clinic and were believed to still be breathing when they arrived. It has been reported that neither of them showed symptoms of anaphylactic shock.
Phanomsay Phakan, a doctor at the Phakan Arocavet Clinic where the pair were first taken, said: “Their whole bodies were covered in red spots.
“It was very, very painful. A lot of stings, more than one hundred, over the whole body. I thought already that it’s a very dangerous situation because I had never seen it as bad as that.”
Daniel and Cooper were then taken to a local hospital, where they died a few hours later, according to The Times.
The 47-year-old father was a director at a Quality Schools International branch. Following the news of his death, QSI shared a statement online which read: “We are deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Dan Owen, Director of QSI International School of Haiphong, and his son Cooper, due to a tragic accident.
“Dan dedicated 18 years to QSI, serving in five different schools and touching countless lives with his warmth, leadership, and unwavering commitment to education.”
Asian hornets are about 2cm long and are mostly black and brown – though they have an orange face and tail with yellow legs. They feed on other species including honey bees, bumble bees and butterflies.
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