'No body part spared': Two siblings in China killed by over 1,000 wasp stings; beekeeper faces charges

Over 1,000 wasp stings kill two children In China

The children, a seven-year-old boy and his two-year-old sister, were attacked on June 28 in a village in Muding county, southwestern China, according to The Paper. “This shocking event occurred on June 28 in a village in Muding county, Yunnan province, where swarms of wasps attacked a seven-year-old boy and his two-year-old sister,” the report stated.

The siblings were usually looked after by their grandparents while their parents worked as migrant laborers in eastern Zhejiang province. On the day of the attack, their grandmother had taken them to a cornfield for farm work, and the children wandered off into nearby pine woods.

The younger child, a girl, suffered more than 700 stings and died at the scene, while her brother, who was stung over 300 times, was hospitalised and passed away the following day. Their father told the South China Morning Post that the children were stung all over their bodies, “with no area left untouched.”

Authorities later identified the insects as yellow-legged hornets (Vespa velutina nigrithorax). The hornets were being raised by a local farmer surnamed Li, who admitted to farming them for their chrysalises, considered a delicacy in the region. Following the incident, Li provided the family with 40,000 yuan in compensation, stating he had no additional means.

Investigators discovered that Li had been raising hornets for two years without notifying the forestry department, as required by law. He was briefly detained, released on bail, and subsequently exterminated all the hornets in his possession.

Following the tragedy, authorities have banned the farming of yellow-legged hornets and initiated inspections of beekeeping operations across the region to prevent similar incidents in the future.