Virulent bee attack in Aurillac, three people hospitalized

Three people were urgently hospitalized on Sunday morning following a virulent bee attack in the city center of Aurillac, the mayor and the Cantal prefecture announced.

In total, 24 people were stung , some dozens of times, by bees living in a hive on the roof of a hotel.

Three of them, including an octogenarian who suffered a " cardiac shock ," were taken care of by the emergency medical services and hospitalized as an emergency, the state services indicated in a press release.

These people are now "all well," the mayor of Aurillac, Pierre Mathonier, told AFP late this afternoon.

On the roof for over ten years

According to him, the apiary, owned by a beekeeper and located on the roof for more than ten years, had never posed a problem before. The peak of the attack, "impressive," lasted between "10 and 20 minutes," he said.

The sudden aggressiveness of the insects is " probably (due) to an attack by Asian hornets , important predators for bees" on the hive in recent days, which provoked "a defensive reaction" in them.

The police, firefighters, and city engineering services have set up a security perimeter in the affected area until the bee flights stop and the situation is "back under control," according to the prefecture.

The hive is to be removed from the roof following the incident: "It won't solve the problem of Asian hornets, but it will prevent bees, which are peaceful animals if they are not disturbed, from adopting this type of behavior in an urban environment," according to the mayor.

"It's terrible for the bees, because even if I issue a decree, I won't be able to stop the Asian hornets," he lamented.