Elderly Man Found Dead In Suspected Wasp Attack

An 89-year-old man has been found dead after having been surrounded by wasps which are believed to have killed him in his garden in northern Spain.

The incident took place in the town of Zaratamo, in the northern Spanish province of Biscay in the Basque Country and local media, such as 20 Minutos, report it is believed the elderly man’s death came as a result of wasp stings.

He was found in his garden surrounded by insects and his body has been sent for an autopsy at the Legal Medicine Institue after being found at around 4.15 pm on Monday.

According to local TV channel EITB, the man had stings to several parts of the body such as his face, arms and neck.

Firefighters were also called to remove the wasp nest located in the area and they confirmed to EITB that the wasps were not Asian hornets (Vespa velutina) but indigenous wasps.

The Security Department of the Basque Country’s regional government has not officially confirmed the cause of death as the autopsy results have not yet been revealed.

The case comes after a 40-year-old man died after coming across an Asian hornet nest whilst working in a property in Gijon, in the Asturias region, in northern Spain last month.

In the city of Santiago de Compostela, in the northwestern Spanish region of Galicia, a 54-year-old man was also recently attacked by Asian hornets, which can be identified by their orange colouring.

Asian hornets also have orange jaws and black teeth, whilst the common wasp (Vespula vulgaris) is smaller and its body is yellow and black.