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[DrunkenMaster]

A hiker who fell 85 feet off a mountain and into a beehive on the desert floor said he was stung so severely, he thought his kidneys wouldn't withstand the flood of toxins.

Charles Connell was hiking alone on South Mountain three weeks ago and climbing a ravine when he reached his hand to grab a rock and discovered he had disturbed a nest of bees.

"They literally cascaded right at me and down me," Connell said.

The force of the bee attack knocked him down the mountain. He said he tumbled across rocks and cacti with the bees racing after him. He said it seemed like a giant mass of man and insects.

"I 'was' bees," Connell said. "I had bees all over me, and I remember brushing my hair back and tossing dust on my hair and suddenly my arm 'was' bees," he recalled. "The hand that I'm using to knock the bees out of my hair is now a bee hand."

Connell said he began screaming for help but no one responded.

"I thought, 'My god, I left my cell phone in the car,'" he said.

For at least 15 minutes, he was motionless on the desert, unable to move as bees were constantly stinging him.

"There was the typical bee in your nose, in your eyes, bee in your mouth, in your eardrums," Connell said. "I remember putting my finger in my ears and shoving a bee further into my eardrums."

Connell said he thought he was going to die. "Being nibbled on by these bees and stung," he said.

Finally, a fellow hiker heard his cries and called 911.

"He was waving his shirt and then he was actually just full of bees," said hiker Ken MacKenzie, who witnessed the May 19 incident.

But the bees began attacking the paramedics, who had to leave the scene to put on protective bee suits.

"He was all broken bones and cut up and tangled up in cholla cactus," said Capt. Lewis Jones of the Phoenix Fire Technical Team.

Phoenix police Officer Craig Churella was the first responder. He tried to reach the hiker but was forced to retreat.

"He was absolutely covered in bees. It was quite the sight. I couldn't get any closer -- they started attacking me," Churella said.

Connell was finally airlifted to safety.

"I don't know how many more minutes I could have taken stings," Connell said.

Today, he has two pins holding together his shattered wrist. He also suffered three broken ribs, a broken arm and a toe. He also has 40 staples in his head to heal wounds caused by the bee stingers.

He said he is still pulling bee stingers out of his skin.

As for his future plans, Connell said he has "no desire to eat honey and no desire to hike for quite a while."

http://www.kpho.com/news/16540038/detail.html

[OneWayTraffic]

Drop and roll.

[nautilus]

those would be africanised 'killer bees" I guess?

[grnmle]

That is fucking terrible

[DrunkenMaster]

A memory that will always sting

[JustJohn]

That would suck.

[crusher_of_heads]

[bassexpander]

[merkurix]

A day like that is the antithesis of say, winning the lottery? Kind of reminds me of that Simpsons episode, where Homer falls of Springfield Gorge and the Evel Knievel-like character Lance Murdock falls into that pool full of painful stuff.