Bee attack shuts down Stella Maris

Jan 16, 2015 News

– school to re-open Monday

Pandemonium broke out in the Stella Maris Primary School compound yesterday when a swarm of bees launched an attack on students there, shutting down operations at the institution for the day.
When it ended, at least two students had been stung. Luckily, their injuries were not life-threatening.
According to reports, early yesterday, as the children were making their way into the compound, a swarm of bees was observed hovering around at the gate.

Several students leaving the compound yesterday

However, no one paid much attention to the insects.
It was a little after 09:00 hrs yesterday, when chaos erupted.
This newspaper was informed that the bees were seen in a classroom flying around. Before the children were able to vacate their classroom, a child was stung.
According to a teacher, when she arrived at work early yesterday, she first noticed a swarm of bees but did not sense any imminent danger.
“After I saw the first set of bees, I didn’t pay much attention, but then I saw them again. I looked around and noticed there were a lot of them flying in the compound. Some of them were in a classroom, so we had to move the children,” the teacher related.
She added that they then telephoned the Ministry of Education and were advised to call in parents and send the children home.
“The Ministry sent people to spray around the place. We really can’t say where the bees came from, they just appeared, but I guess they were not the Africanized bees,” the teacher said.
When Kaieteur News arrived at the school, children were still in the compound, preparing to leave. Vendors were also seen packing up their stalls.
One vendor said that the bees were around her snackette, but she made to effort to chase them from there.
“I know when you trouble those things, it does be problems so I just continued selling, and I notice they eventually moved,” the woman recounted.

ome of the closed classrooms after the attack

She said that she later saw the children leaving the compound and when she enquired, she was informed that the school was “taken over by bees”.
“They were honey bees, because they didn’t really sting a lot of people, just those two children, and they went home,” the vendor said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education via release indicated that it had been brought to its attention that sessions were disrupted at the Stella Maris Nursery and Primary Schools after a swarm of bees from a nest outside the schools’ compound entered the buildings.
The Ministry informed parents and guardians that “all necessary precautions have been taken and the nest has been removed. The area has also been cleared.”
It was stated that further checks will be conducted today “to ensure the health and safety of the children and staff of the schools”, and both the Nursery and Primary sections will re-open on Monday, January 19.