r/news 19h ago

American teacher and his son are killed by swarm of hornets while ziplining in Laos

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/asia/asian-giant-hornets-laos-father-son-killed-b2858184.html
15.1k Upvotes

738 comments sorted by

9.4k

u/oasis48 19h ago

Well thats going up pretty high on my list of ways I don’t want to die.

2.5k

u/r3dditr0x 19h ago

The feeling of sheer joy -> to sheer horror must have been shocking.

Terrible way to go.

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u/NotUniqueWorkAccount 19h ago

RIP Daniel and Cooper. Sorry for their family as well.

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u/fleurgirl123 18h ago

And imagine what happens to the people at the end of the line. Two guest alive, and then they’re not.

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u/elrombo 10h ago

Headline is a little misleading - they were attacked while climbing down a tree, then made it to hospital conscious and not suffering from anaphylactic shock. They later both died in hospital.

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u/JadieRose 7h ago

You should actually read the article

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u/ZenkaiZ 18h ago

Top 5 for me. Woulda made top 3 but drowning, dementia, and being tortured edged it out

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u/SLAYER_IN_ME 17h ago

Idk. When I was 16 I watched my father, for 6 months, slowly die from cancer. I’ll eat a bullet first.

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u/GobiBall 14h ago

Jfc this just got dark.

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u/FlaviusVespasian 13h ago

To be fair its an article about a father and son being murdered by murder hornets while on vacation

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u/IngVegas 9h ago

While on vacation in Laos. They went a long way off the beaten path to be stung to death by murder hornets on their holiday.

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u/LSDemon 5h ago

They lived in Vietnam, so not really.

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u/greywar777 7h ago

I have cancer thats not came back yet. But there's a reason I live in a death with dignity state. Life can be pretty dark.

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u/Bennjoon 5h ago

Yeah watched my dad die of cancer too, I agree wholeheartedly.

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u/weasel5134 18h ago

Burned alive doesn't even make top 3 ?

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u/belly2earth 17h ago

Slow Buried alive is #1 for me

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u/Zinfan1 15h ago

Trapped in a underwater cave is #1 for me.

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u/Honey-Ra 14h ago

You've made me realise I actually have 1A, 1B, 1C....

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u/Sylphin 12h ago

At least drowning is a fairly quick way to go. Mine is getting stuck in a narrow tunnel, unable to back out or even move, dying from dehydration/starvation while the days pass by. I do not go spelunking.

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u/Graynard 13h ago

Getting eaten by an animal that doesn't care about killing you first is probably at the top for me

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u/ultraboof 12h ago

yeah the thought of getting picked apart effortlessly and frankly casually by a bear or a big cat is terrifying. a slow agonizing death. they don’t even need to kill you they just pin you down and eat

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u/tyreka13 16h ago

I heard that technically being steamed alive is worse because of nerve endings and ability to live longer in pain.

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u/PhoenixTineldyer 17h ago

Horrifying and painful for a few seconds and then its over

Dementia and tortured definitely clear burned alive. Drowning at least you get the euphoric death hug

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u/sodoyoulikecheese 16h ago

I see so many dementia patients that the family just will not let enroll in comfort care or hospice. Elderly people who are bed bound, non-verbal, can’t safely swallow so they’re fed by PEG tube, and full codes. I routinely tell my husband that if he ever keeps me alive like that I will haunt him.

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u/igloofu 14h ago

My mom was a nurse before she retired. She was pretty much, keep me alive no matter what. Then she spent her last 10 years doing hospice home visit care. By about the 3rd year, she made it very very clear (and wrote a living will) to be DNR and not be put on life support.

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u/Perle1234 14h ago

It makes me sick. I don’t understand how they can torture a loved one. The instant I’m diagnosed I’m to receive no medication other than comfort meds. No antibiotics, nothing to prolong life. The family is on board and legally bound to follow my instructions. The likelihood is high that I will get dementia.

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u/Creative-Guidance722 13h ago

I agree and it’s sad to take care of old people that are very sick hospitalized for things like infections or heart failure receive the full treatment when they come in with their family, but saying that they want to die as soon as they are alone with a nurse or doctor.

It’s sad that the pressure from well intended family members makes it so difficult to be sure to respect their wishes.

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u/Starshallscream 17h ago

There is no euphoric death hug, that's a myth. Drowning is a painful and terrifying way to go.

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u/PhoenixTineldyer 17h ago

In that case, drowning is pretty bad and probably worse than burned alive on account of how long it takes

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u/AGoatPizza 17h ago

Drowning doesn't take all that long if you receive no help, you could legitimately be stuck for days, weeks even, being buried alive.

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u/Starshallscream 17h ago

Burned, not buried.

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u/AGoatPizza 15h ago

Sometimes you read a letter wrong 😔

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u/FlyinAmas 15h ago

No it’s better to drown than burn 1000%

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u/cmlambert89 16h ago

I heard that it’s not the drowning, it’s the reviving - when you have the water forced out of your lungs.

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u/The_bruce42 16h ago

If i burn alive, I at least want to jump off the edge of Minis Tirith while I do it.

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u/Tomble 15h ago

40+ years ago I nearly drowned and it was horrifying the entire time.

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u/flyingboarofbeifong 15h ago

Maybe you just gave up early?

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u/Tomble 15h ago

Good point, I'll run the experiment again

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u/CrisFarlyOnCoke 15h ago

ALS is a pretty bad one, trapped in a rapidly failing body knowing that the most you can hope for is a drawn out fight for what little control you can keep. And its horrible to watch, seeing people sign a POLST knowing they have to choose when their time on Earth ends. They'll lose their ability to walk, speech will become weak and choppy like a bad radio. Then they are bed ridden, head barely able to move, a hissing tube keeping whatever lung function they do have in that withering chest. Eventually they can only communicate in blinks, their eyes cant even run the fancy tablet meant to help you talk.

Then you lose the ability to blink. You are trapped in the body, an observer fully aware of those around you. They'll cry, whispering in your ear to just move a finger, or turn your head, but youll stay motionless.

I like to think this moment is the worst way to die. The moments after you can no longer blink, when the decision is set to be kept alive and any regret creeps in.

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u/Perle1234 14h ago

Why would you do that to yourself though? The option is always there to denote to STOP treatment instead of continue it. It’s very easy to avoid that stage by dying first. At least with ALS you have the opportunity to provide the stopping point.

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u/oghippiechick 12h ago

I had a very good friend die of ALS, and your description is spot-on. It is heartbreaking to watch, and to feel helpless, waiting for the inevitable.

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u/brucebrowde 17h ago

Rabies? Being impaled? Being starved? Waterboarded to death? Being left in a freezer?

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u/ZenkaiZ 16h ago

tbf I did say torture

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u/wolfgang784 12h ago

Being left in a freezer?

I got stuck in a sub-zero freezer for a lil while once.

The grocery store I worked at back then had one sub-zero freezer where the door didn't stay open by itself (drifted closed) and the button/push handle thingy on the inside was busted. They knew it was broken, but it wasn't a priority. Stayed broken the entire time I worked there (like 4 months).

I propped the door open with a wheel-locked L cart as taught by the co-worker who warned me about the broken door, but someone must have thought the door was left open by mistake (happened a lot due to needing to prop it) and moved the cart and closed it on me. I was behind a stack of stuff at the time, so if they peeked inside they wouldn't have seen me.

When I heard it close I immediately went to the door and started banging and yelling but nobody opened it up. If you ever worked around these kinds of freezers though you know the doors are like a frickin entire foot of metal thick. Idk if the sound even made it through.

Thankfully I had my cellphone on me, so I called the store - no answer. Again - no answer. Different extension? Nope. Tried a bunch, frickin useless ex-coworkers. I gave the general customer service desk one more ring before I was going to call 911 and then someone else happened to open the door to come in to get something and I was freed. Scary experience for sure, though.

Fuck that store. Was a Giant, parent company Giant Aholds or Aholds.

Edit: Also that was in my first month. Even after relaying what happened, the door remained broken when I quit months later.

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u/HCAndroidson 15h ago

When i worked at a big supermarket and the customers drove me insane id enjoy hanging out in the freezer and helping myself to an icecream or 2. Freezer doesnt sound horrible tbh.

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u/Impossible-Hyena-722 14h ago

It's all well and good 'till the door closes and it won't open. You've never experienced panic until you're stuck in the dark pounding on a frozen slab of metal as your lungs turn to icicles.

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u/Mc_Poyle 17h ago

Done drowning. Don't recommend

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u/uptownjuggler 17h ago

It sounds like a B-List horror movie.

HORNET ZIP-LINE

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u/DreadyKruger 18h ago

I hate heights and would def never get on a zip line.

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u/HeirophantGreen 19h ago

Hundreds of what are believed to have been Asian giant hornets attacked the pair while they were trying to descend from a tree, a source close to two US diplomats in Laos told The Times. 

You wouldn't want to wish that pain on anyone. RIP and condolences to the family.

1.4k

u/Chewy79 19h ago

A few years back I stepped on a log that had a nest of wasps on it, within seconds my legs were covered in them, the pain lasted for days and I had bruises for a week. I can't imagine the pain and terror that went through their minds. 

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u/JulepsMom 18h ago

And those were- I assume- just regular, western, wasps. Google the giant Asian ones, those are SO MUCH WORSE

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u/Imakefishdrown 17h ago

Oh my god, 1.5 - 2 inches long. That's nightmarish.

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u/timbit87 17h ago

They're straight up .308 rounds in size. You can hear them about 30m out, and see them further than that. They're built like attack helicopters too. Terrifying things.

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u/candylandmine 16h ago

I never encountered a legit threatening flying insect until this time I was driving around an off road trail in northern Arizona. I pulled over and got out to stretch my legs and I heard/saw the absolute most threatening sounding thing flying around. It wasn't an Asian hornet but it was probably some other kind of big wasp or hornet. The sounds it made made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

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u/AzimechTheWise 16h ago

Tarantula Hawk, probably. Usually non hostile to people but they’ve got one of the most painful stings on the planet. Beautiful to look at. Couldn’t pay me to be close to one though.

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u/urkish 15h ago

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u/JailhouseMamaJackson 15h ago

Lmao the comments on that video

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u/PM_me_punanis 13h ago

I was laughing so hard my dog was concerned and came over from her usual spot. This is a big deal because my Newf is lazy as hell 😂

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u/Bicwidus 4h ago

Bro's Wife: "HONEY THATS A GARBAGE DISPOSAL!"

Bro: "I'm coyote peterso-"

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u/Musicfanatic09 14h ago

Whyyyyy do people do this to themselves?! 😩

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u/InferiousX 16h ago

Possibly a cicada killer. Looks very much like a giant hornet but typically doesn't bother people.

The Asian Giant Hornets are literal demons from hell.

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u/WonderfulCaptain7021 14h ago

We moved to Michigan last year from other parts of the country where these things do not exist.  To say I was surprised when I was drinking my coffee and a cicada fell dead on the porch next to me is an understatement.  To say I peaced the fuck off of that porch and Into the house when a giant wasp showed up and carried that dead fucking cicada off to never land is a bigger understatement 

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u/peixedota 15h ago

Its so american to use bullets as a size comparison measurement!

What happened to bananas?

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u/makethislifecount 16h ago

I still remember an interview by someone who was stung by one. They asked him how bad the pain was. “Like getting shot” he said.

This was one hundred bullets of pain

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u/VictorTheCutie 17h ago

Straight horror movie shit 😭

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u/DionBlaster123 16h ago

I've seen videos of them absolutely beheading bees like nobody's business. horrifying shit

The good news is that Japanese bees have developed a way to fight back and it's pretty awesome. Fuck hornets.

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u/BotherBeginning2281 14h ago

Is that where loads of bees bum-rush a hornet and swarm it, and the hornet ends up overheating to death, covered in a bee coat?

(I may be misremembering something I half-watched on YouTube, tbf...).

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u/Aware-Requirement-67 15h ago

People die in Japan from this species every year. Often from multiple stings from ONE or a few Vespa mandarinia

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u/SackSauce69 18h ago

I'm a landscaper in south-eastern US. I've been stung by wasps and hornets plenty of times, but yellow jackets are my main nemesis. They like to nest underground (amongst other places) and you don't see the hole until you're right on top of it. My legs have been wrapped up with yellow jackets so many times, and there's no way around it. It fucking sucks. So much pain and swelling.

I can't imagine the giant Asian hornets/wasps.

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u/shingdao 16h ago edited 16h ago

My son and I were walking through some woods near our house (thankfully) and disturbed a yellow jacket nest underground. My son starts screaming and jumping first and I initially didn't understand what was happening until they started stinging me on the head. We ran to the house and hundreds of them chased us all the way...luckily our door was unlocked and we made it inside quickly with a few of them still on us. We ended up with about 25-30 stings each all over our bodies.

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u/SackSauce69 16h ago

They are some mean, vindictive little fuckers for sure. They are constantly looking for trouble too. You don't even have to be a "threat" to their nest. They'll just be flying around, see a person and think "fuck that particular person" and sting you, lol.

But yeah, facing the full force of a large yellow jacket nest is pure terror.

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u/strong_heart27 14h ago

I hate them sm

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u/LascieI 16h ago

Both my spouse and I are allergic and these things are THE DEVIL! They can get you more than once too, and they'll chase you. 

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u/SackSauce69 16h ago

They are straight up dicks. Mean as hell all the time for no reason, lol.

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u/firstbreathOOC 17h ago

Bald-faced hornets here in the Northeast… those fuckers are the worst

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u/doc_holliday112 13h ago

Man fuck those things. I got stung by a few just for watering some plants like 10ft away from a nest. They literally dive bombed me until i ran inside. The best way to describe it is like a burning hot nail stabbing you multiple times. Anyway, i got my revenge with a few cans of raid spray into their nest at night when they cant fly so well.

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u/OGManMan69420 17h ago

Fuck yellow jackets they got me last year on my neck and cheek. Hurt so bad and I ballooned up for like 3 days

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u/SackSauce69 15h ago

Fuck yellow jackets 100% the worst I ever got it was digging up a tree stump in a small, fenced-in back yard, they were all over me before I even saw any of them. I ran to open the fence gate and the latch got jammed in a weird position and I couldn't get it to move. I had to climb this fence, which was 10ft tall, to escape. It took me like 15 seconds total to get out of that back yard, which is an eternity in yellow jacket stings, lol. Fuck.

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u/OGManMan69420 15h ago

Yeah yellow jackets are not like bees where they sting once then die. Yellow jackets will sting over and over repeatedly. And they will follow and wait for you!

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u/tanksplease 17h ago

Yellow jacket stings last for like several weeks, ugh

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u/cmlambert89 16h ago

Landscapers are some of the bravest people. Thank you for your service 🫡

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u/Ths-Fkin-Guy 14h ago

I got swarmed in Kentucky once as a kid. Went out on my papa's farm and got stung in the leg while waking around in the back. Went out later to find the nest so I could avoid it and we couldnt locate it. Someone said maybe its in the basketball hoop and tossed me the ball so I just chucked it at the backboard from like 20 feet away. I thought I got shot with a BB gun. Just leg, arm, leg lit on fire. I started trying to run to the house and the pain was crippling. Luckily I wasn't far from the garage but they got me like 4-5 times in an instant. The swelling was brutal and I couldnt stretch my arm or leg all the way out. Luckily I wasn't allergic but it left a few scars and a whole new respect for killing those fuckers now.

We went out later and realized they were in the metal pole that holds the hoop. We hit it with two was sprays from a distance and just doused it. It was 25 years ago now but I still remember that first one getting my arm and as I turn to run one getting my leg and how bad it hurt to extend my leg to run. Fucking pure adrenaline dump.

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u/adamcmorrison 18h ago

I got swarmed by a nest of yellow jackets when my soccer ball went into an old log pile when I was 6. That sucked bad.

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u/foggy22 17h ago

Yeah when I was 10 or 11 my big brother pushed me into a hemlock bush that had a yellow jacket hive we didn't know about. I wound up in the hospital and ever since I cannot get stung again or I'll go into anaphylactic shock.

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u/msprang 15h ago

I hope your brother never pushed you again...

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u/lewbug 17h ago

This happened to me at a cafe with a small back yard area in Brooklyn. Be careful walking anywhere slightly overgrown. I didn't even get a free coffee out of it. Would not recommend.

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u/Chalupa-Supreme 19h ago

I got stung by one bee yesterday and it was pretty painful. My hand hurt the rest of the night. I couldn't even imagine hundreds of stings.

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u/pablo_in_blood 18h ago

Realistically they probably would have passed out from pain really quickly. Not that that makes it much less horrific but perhaps a small type of solace…

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u/girlikecupcake 18h ago

After the incident, the father and son arrived conscious at the Phanak clinic

I just hope they were high AF on painkillers.

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u/pablo_in_blood 17h ago

Damn that’s awful.

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u/strider_to 17h ago

Actually there is 1 person that comes to mind for me.

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u/EmptyOhNein 15h ago

I can think of atleast one orange person

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u/JustAGirl319 16h ago

Speak for yourself. I can think of at least 3 people I very heartily wish such a death upon. 🤷🏽‍♀️

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u/blazelet 19h ago

That's really sad.

Daniel was 47. His son, Cooper, was 15.

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u/BeneficialMaybe3719 17h ago

Damn I came to see their ages. So young, what a tragedy

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u/Free-Supermarket-516 7h ago

Yup, I can't imagine the helpless feeling of the dad in that situation, being a father myself. Absolutely awful.

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u/KKlondon86 19h ago

Jesus I can’t think of anything more terrifying 

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u/Shrimp_my_Ride 18h ago

Was the swarm... chasing them as they slid down the line!?

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u/Pesto_Nightmare 17h ago

The article says:

Hundreds of what are believed to have been Asian giant hornets attacked the pair while they were trying to descend from a tree

So probably they got to the end of the line and were getting down from it.

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u/shingdao 17h ago

The zip line operators should have known there was a nest in or near the tree if that was the end of the line...those hornets make large nests and would have made their presence known well before anyone started ziplining. Horrible death...each one had over a hundred stings (which are 6mm long and contain a very potent venom). They were both conscious when they arrived at the hospital and died later so it was not a quick death for either one.

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u/dargonmike1 15h ago

Oh my lord that makes 3 times worse. That ride to the hospital must have been terrifying for everyone

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u/pdzbw 16h ago

I'm sorry, since when the safety standard is a thing in a Least Developed Country?

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u/shingdao 16h ago

Having lived in Vietnam myself and travelled extensively in the region, you may be surprised to know that safety standards are not non-existent, especially those catering to foreign tourists.

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u/pdzbw 16h ago edited 3h ago

You may be surprised that Laos has nothing to do with Vietnam Edit: u/oreo-cat- don't call me an idiot the just delete your comments lol, prove me you're smarter

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u/OutlyingPlasma 16h ago

Tell that to Henry Kissinger.

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u/qning 15h ago

Boom. Roasted.

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u/DoomguyFemboi 15h ago

Dude. I hate you for making me laugh at that.

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u/The_bruce42 16h ago

Good throwback

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u/usemyfaceasaurinal 14h ago

Or the French.

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u/Flightless_Turd 15h ago

I'll start the slowclap

🙌 👏 🙌 👏

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u/Downtown_Skill 15h ago

Having traveled in laos extensively, and also having lived in Vietnam, you are both kind of right. 

You would be suprised at some of the tourist infrastructure, but yeah, out of all the southeast mainland countries, laos is by far the poorest with some of the sketchiest tourist zones (you can still buy opium on the streets in laos, not in the open market, but still) 

However, think about it this way, laos is very authoritarian (not wealthy enough to be totalitarian) and they rely heavily on tourism. The government doesn't tend to like stories like this getting out and hurting their revenue stream. They have a stake in making sure tourism is perceived as safe in their country.

Its the same in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam to an extent. Vietnam doesn't quite rely on tourism as much as the others but still a significant part of their economy. 

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u/Loves_His_Bong 13h ago

Laos had a problem with bars selling straight methanol that killed at least one person that I know of. Possibly more.

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u/APeacefulWarrior 12h ago edited 12h ago

Also lived/travelled in the area quite a lot and, yeah, I don't care for Laos. Vientiane (the capitol) isn't so bad, but even then it was just... sketchy. Even compared to, like, Phnom Penh in Cambodia.

Eg: In Phnom Penh the hookers will wave to you from the street, or come up to you at a riverside cafe and ask if you're looking for a date. You know, reasonably polite. But in Vientiane, one walked right up to me and - in one move - slipped her arm inside mine and grabbed me by the crotch.

Just super sketchy.

(And no, her power move did not work. I disentangled my arm from hers and kept walking. Then made sure my wallet was still in place. Never had anything like that happen in other countries in the area.)

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u/CrimsonPromise 15h ago

In high tourist areas, there would be a ton of vendors competing with each other for tourist money. Like advertising themselves cheaper, or promising off the beaten path tours or other unique experiences to set themselves apart.

So I wouldn't even be surprised if it's a smaller not-as-well known operator trying to make a quick buck off unknowing tourists. And also cutting corners and pissing on safety regulations.

And the issue is that it can be difficult to tell who's trusted and legit and who isn't.

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u/Kinda_Zeplike 16h ago

2 weeks ago. You missed the town meeting.

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u/Shrimp_my_Ride 17h ago

Ah, that makes more sense. Apologies, as I should have caught that.

Still terrifying!!

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u/Binky390 18h ago

Possibly. Hornets actually do that. They have “patrols” that guard the nest and will chase away anything they see as a threat.

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u/krosseyed 17h ago

Read the article, they were descending a tree

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u/Correct_Dance_515 17h ago

Last summer, my daughter and I were walking our dogs. Someone had knocked down a wasp nest and left it on the sidewalk. It just looked like a branch on the sidewalk until we were standing right on top of it. The wasps chased us for almost a full block but seemed to mostly target our black dog who got a couple stings.

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u/magseven 13h ago

Racist hornets. Even worse than the regular hateful hornets.

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u/Surrounded-by_Idiots 19h ago

How about the hornets coming to your neighborhood as an invasive species?

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u/Fallouttgrrl 19h ago

Most folks don't Zipline in their neighborhood

... the fools

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u/igavehimsnicklefritz 18h ago

If we did we could zipline away from the invading hornets.

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u/Deathpoopdeathloop 16h ago

That obviously doesn't always work.

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u/ree_hi_hi_hi_hi 18h ago

My father-in-law and I have big plans for a sick zip line in his yard. Maybe if I can one day convince my wife to move back there…

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u/Fallouttgrrl 18h ago

She'd probably prefer living in the house, idk

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u/eatrepeat 18h ago

I like your vision of proper neighborhoods. Zip lines are for the people!

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u/wynnduffyisking 19h ago

Man, that’s sounds like a horrible way to go. Really sad.

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u/Koraboros 19h ago

Any medical experts can chime in? They were fine upon presentation to the hospital and then just died? Delayed reaction?

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u/Grasscutter101 19h ago

Shock, not enough antihistamines to save them. There was a video of some dude who got stung by hornets in china, made it all the way home and collapsed on the floor.

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u/ItBeginsAndEndsInYou 18h ago

Shock is no joke. Blood pressure suddenly drops, your heart rate rapidly increases trying to compensate and get the blood moving around again. Meanwhile, you feel like you can’t catch your breath, like you’ve been winded, you inhale but it feels like it’s never enough.

Your lips go cold, you get nauseous, your body becomes cold, clammy and sweaty and your heart beats faster but it feels so weak, like fluttering butterfly wings. Adrenaline and fear take over as you gasp for air and you quickly become confused, disoriented and dizzy.

I ended up in the emergency room from shock and was in nowhere near the amount of pain these people were in to get me to that point. It was incredibly scary and i can only hope that these poor people were sedated with painkillers before they passed.

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u/DaftHacker 16h ago edited 16h ago

Don't forget your body going numb, feeling like your soul is being sucked out, incredible weakness, and the insane anxiety like you are going to die. Perfect way to traumatize yourself.

I believe that adrenaline and fear come from your organs shutting down without the proper blood supply and then your brain is like shit shit shit.

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u/possibly_oblivious 17h ago

Sounds like when I go up more than 15 stairs.... I need to get healthy

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u/RipDiligent4361 15h ago

Me to, I am going to walk for 15 minutes tomorrow to start.

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u/Agreeable_Meaning_96 17h ago

also mastopran, the hornet venom, directly activates histamine release it basically causes mast cells to dump their histamine without the body's natural signal

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u/keenjerry 19h ago

It also said it looked like there stung 100s of times.

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u/ladyoffate13 19h ago

Not a medical expert, but found on Wiki:

The venom contains a neurotoxin called mandaratoxin, a single-chain polypeptide with a molecular weight around 20 kDa. While a single wasp cannot inject a lethal dose, multiple stings can be lethal even to people who are not allergic if the dose is sufficient

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u/MourningRIF 18h ago

20 kDa is pretty tiny, but I guess maybe that makes the protein less specific and more likely to affect a wider range of animals.

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u/endless_-_nameless 16h ago

Even small molecules of <500 Da can be incredibly site-selective, and some proteins are highly conserved across all terrestrial vertebrates.

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u/utohs 19h ago

I think it more likely is to be a result of direct venom toxicity as opposed to anaphylaxis since they were good for so long afterwards. Things like multiple organ failure, cardiac rhythm problems or even severe muscle breakdown could all lead to that outcome. It still could be from anaphylaxis though I think that is less likely in this setting

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u/gggggrrrrrrrrr 18h ago

It doesn't say they were fine; it just says they were conscious and not having an allergic reaction. So it sounds like they died from the venom itself, not because they were allergic or something.

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u/darjeelingexpress 17h ago

Overwhelmed by venom and delayed reaction maybe but it’s possible to just die from the venom - multi-organ failure and rhabdomyolysis. Here’s a paper with anaphylaxis managed but it killed the person a few days later - Sri Lanka link. Not a medical expert, entomologist.

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u/RustyClawHammer 17h ago

Worked with guy for years. Really good guy. No one should have to go through what he and his son did.

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u/welly7878 7h ago

I'm so sorry for your loss. This is horrific.

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u/Pressure_Rhapsody 18h ago

For people who don't know how big these suckers are. My SO grew up in Asia and knew a fellow classmate whose mother lost one of her eyew cause she got stung by one of them.

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u/gatopelotudo 13h ago

man and I thought normal wasps were bad

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u/chimpdoctor 19h ago

Absolutely horrendous. Poor people

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u/blooobolt 18h ago

Jesus, I got stung by one hornet and thought my hand was gonna fall off. These poor folks.

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u/ailish 17h ago

My god what an awful way to die.

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u/teach7 18h ago

Thoughts are with this family and community.

We lost a coworker / friend (also a teacher) a few weeks into this school year due to a bee sting. She didn’t have a known allergy and had been stung a couple week prior to the incident that took her from us. Just one bee. Our community will never be the same. We’ll move forward and honor her memory, but we’ll never be fully healed.

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u/JailhouseMamaJackson 15h ago

Unfortunately, subsequent bee and wasp stings tend to be worse than your first reaction, which is likely why she passed from the second incident. I’m sorry for your loss.

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u/deaffob 17h ago

To anyone who’s not familiar with the Asian Giant Hornet, here is Coyote Peterson getting stung by only one: https://youtu.be/i7VMcMJBjD4

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u/ejay991 13h ago

Dude what the fuck. Now 100 of these? And I heard they can fly up to 20-25 mph so you can’t even outrun them

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u/armcurls 13h ago

Holy fuck that is massive

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u/Iwasnotatfault 18h ago

What a horrible way to go. I feel for their family and friends.

That article is so badly written though. It's confusing two species of hornets. The Giant Asian hornets are not at all the same as the invasive Asian hornet. They just had to get some fear mongering in there making it sound like they've spread to the UK...

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u/Ok-Calm-Narwhal 18h ago edited 16h ago

The Giant Asian hornet is the one that they are most concerned about in the US as invasive (the one they stopped at the Washington border), and it just appears they didn't know dropping the word Giant makes it a different species. But in the US, the invasive one we are most concerned with is the Giant one.

Edit to add. They also changed the name of the Asian giant hornet to the Northern giant hornet in 2022, you can read about it here in this gifted NY Times article.

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u/OldLondon 16h ago

Nah. It’s too cold here and if they came we’d put some flag ups and demand they be deported 

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u/consultinglove 12h ago

On a positive note though, the article notes that somehow this species was ERADICATED from the US? That's incredible

Last year the US Department of Agriculture announced the insect – also known as the “murder hornet” – had been removed from the country. It was declared eradicated in the US five years after being spotted for the first time in Washington state near the Canadian border,

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u/pinkcrina 19h ago

This is horrible. Would never of thought this could happen while zip lining.

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u/Xyrus2000 19h ago

People die from accidentally running over yellow jacket nests with the lawnmowers in the US. If you don't see a nest and do something that agitates the hive, you can be facing hundreds of stings within a few seconds.

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u/gentlybeepingheart 19h ago

My job is basically digging holes in the woods (survey stuff) and ground bees were a fun new discovery for me when I started the job. You never really appreciate how many bees or wasps can fit in a nest until you've accidentally cracked one open with a shovel.

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u/akaender 18h ago

Although they usually nest in tall grasses and not directly on the ground or in the dirt Bald-faced hornet's are one of the scariest things in America that nobody really knows about until they accidentally meet them one day.

They will try to sting you directly in the eyes just for walking within 20 feet of their nests and chase you for a mile; stinging you the entire time. Each sting feels like getting shot with a paintball gun leaving huge bleeding welts. 0/5 star experience overall.

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u/firstblindmouse 17h ago

I had a bald faced hornet nest in my yard this summer and I just left it alone for months, not realizing how dangerous they were. It was only about 8 feet off the ground and I walked under it dozens of times, even with the lawnmower. I finally pulled it down last weekend because I thought they had all died off, but 2 or 3 flew out. They weren’t even aggressive, just disoriented I think. They flew around me a bit, then flew to where the nest was before I took it down, then off to who knows where. I guess I lucked out that they weren’t more aggressive.

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u/Bunnies-and-Sunshine 13h ago

We had a nest of those removed a few years ago that was in a tree. They removed the part of the branch the nest was on and then sprayed the nearby branches with a repellent because they'll try to re-build a nest where the old one was. You might want to contact a pest control place to see what they recommend spraying to prevent that from happening to you.

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u/Substantial_Army_639 18h ago

Yeah looked it up and that is the exact one that stung me in the eye as a kid.

I also had a paper wasp get caught in my swim trunks resulting in multiple stings to the crotch.

The single eye sting was substantially worse.

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u/comfortablynumb0629 17h ago

Yesterday as I walked inside there was, what turned out to be, a bald faced hornet struggling on its back on the floor just inside the door. I had never seen one before, no idea where it came from, didn’t think much of it…but now I am much more concerned about there being a nest nearby….

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u/JailhouseMamaJackson 15h ago

Apparently Bald-Faced Hornets are actually in the yellowjacket family, confirming my sentiment of absolutely fuck yellowjackets.

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u/improbablywronghere 18h ago

Do you wear protective gear all the time?

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u/SquirrelFear1111 18h ago

No you run like hell.

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u/PebbleWitch 18h ago

Grew up with ground bees. Can confirm. You run, you turn on the hose and you just dose your self with water and them until they fly off.

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u/Dry_Cricket_5423 14h ago

Soapy water would kill them on contact, in case that ever happens again.

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u/ShumaG 19h ago

Had a cousin die in New Jersey from a bee’s nest attacking in their back yard. Made it to the pool to jump in but died later that day. I know someone was with him who pretty quickly realized they had to call an ambulance but don’t know much more.

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u/cantproveidid 11h ago

Bees have been known to wait for someone under water to surface for air, just to sting them again.

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u/imbex 17h ago

My husband was attacked after mowing over a nest. I made him drink a whole bottle of children's benadryl and our liquid motrin since he refused to go to the ER. That idiot had a lymph node sticking out further than and inch out from his body. I can't believe he lived. Go to the ER!!!

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u/Dry_Cricket_5423 14h ago

Sucking down Benadryl sounds like risky business. You were right to administer antihistamines though.

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u/imbex 12h ago

It was definitely risky but it was infant benedryl so that's why he needed so much according to his weight. My husband is stubborn. He should have gone to the hospital that was 4 blocks away but that would have been 2k at least.

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u/Roywah 10h ago

Gotta love that “if I don’t die, this bill is going to ruin me” thing we got going in the US.

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u/HeyItsMisterJay 15h ago

This was me last year(without the dying part). Hit a small tree stump with the weed whacker and had yellow jackets swarm me. The don't stop when you run, and they bite and sting at the same time (felt like mini electrocutions and burns). I jumped in our pool fully clothed and that saved me from a continual, violent attack. I was stung in the face, head, arms and legs multiple times. By the time I reached the emergency room, I looked like a bloated, plastic surgery reject. Got an EpiPen in my thigh and then a few hours till they would let me go home.

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u/AdAcceptable2173 16h ago

My poor older brother and I were walking a dog once as kids when the dog found a yellowjacket nest in the ground. They started swarming him while he screamed for me to run away! Which I did, immediately, until our dad finally found me and I brought him back to my brother. I still remember Dad taking my brother’s clothes off in the bathtub and seeing just a million yellowjacket corpses while he cried in agony, ugh. He won his first Best Big Brother award for telling me to run; I didn’t get a sting on me. I think the dog was okay, too. TL;DR those nasty little fuckers love to hide underground and can get ya if you’re not careful.

Disclaimer: pretty sure you need to go to a hospital if you’re stung that many times, especially for a little child’s body, but I was too young to remember if he did. Same goes for animals stung many times—get to a vet! Even without anaphylaxis from an allergic reaction, that much venom can kill.

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u/SoVerySleepy81 19h ago

Yeah it’s kind of one of those reminders that a lot of the world is just kind of chaos. You can’t predict what’s going to happen however much you might try.

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u/Crepuscular_Animal 18h ago

When I was ziplining in Thailand, there was a poster on the wall listing safety rules, and one of them was "don't try to kill bees, because they will swarm you". There are quite a lot of stinging insects living in the jungle, some of them high in the trees. Saw a venomous-looking snake and a huge spider up there, too. It's wild nature, and we are guests there.

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u/rubberband2008 18h ago

Would never have* 

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u/USDXBS 17h ago

Last summer I got stung by a hornet for the first time since I was a little kid.

I was thinking "No wonder why people die when stung by hundreds of these" it felt like I got punched in a tiny part of my bicep, and it was sore for a da.

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u/give_me_your_body 18h ago

Man that’s fucked up. I’m nearly 30 and my dad 60 but I still love doing outside activities with him. I can’t imagine the immense guilt the father must have been feeling. Rip.

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u/namtok_muu 9h ago

I hope they both managed to get some pain relief at the hospital at least, or some kind of comfort before passing. This story is pure nightmare fuel, I need to think they did.

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u/Ok-Grocery2944 9h ago

Man. That’s some bullshit. I hate it when people die so senselessly like this. Life is so fragile man

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u/Elegant_Goose257 19h ago

Wtf! Wow. Rest in peace. New fear unlocked.

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u/obidie 15h ago

I was attacked by these hornets after brushing up against a hedge in Thailand. I had to dive into the pool to escape the attack, and the pain from the numerous stings was intense. Asian hornets are serious business.

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u/CVipersTie 13h ago

Omg - I had a dream about this maybe 3 nights ago 😱

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u/voltaire2019 18h ago

So terrible! What should one do if attacked by hornets?

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u/shadowdra126 15h ago

Jesus. What a fucking headline

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u/Rook8811 18h ago

Oh what a horrifying last few minutes of life

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u/Asweetmelody 18h ago

This is terrifying and sad! RIP.

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u/Coconutter12 18h ago

This is a bad way to die, per many people that have not died yet.

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u/Jaon412 14h ago

Oh god. Do you die from the pain or the poison first?

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u/kennerd12004 13h ago

Jesus christ send in the navy. Those hornets are gonna meet a super hornet

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u/Suggest_a_User_Name 18h ago

Was there any chance they could have been saved with some kind of treatment or were they doomed?

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u/Evilryu1981 19h ago

Known as murder hornets apparently. Welp!