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Woman suffers more than 75 bee stings, credited with saving family

The woman was with her kids on a family photo shoot in Arizona when the bees started attacking them.
Swarm of bees
Posted at 2:35 PM, May 02, 2023
and last updated 2023-05-02 14:35:24-04

A swarm of bees stung a woman more than 75 times during a family photo shoot. 

The group was in Buckeye Valley, west of Phoenix, when the bees attacked last week.

"Please hurry, please hurry, my daughter can't get in the car," the woman told a dispatcher. "She's being attacked by bees."

According to Arizona Fire & Medical Authority, the woman and two children were swarmed and attacked during the chaotic incident. Officials praised the woman for getting the kids in the car quickly and taking the "brunt of the stings."

When rescue crews showed up, they used foam to calm the bees and remove the children from the car. 

The woman was taken to a local hospital, where she has recovered, Arizona Fire & Medical Authority reported. 

Bees tend to eggs on a honeycomb.

A swarm of bees kills a hiker in Arizona

The hiker, a man from Louisiana, was visiting Arizona when he suffered more than 1,000 bee stings.

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According to the Department of Agriculture, the average person can safely tolerate 10 stings per pound of body weight. 

"This means that although 500 stings can kill a child, the average adult could withstand more than 1,100 stings," the Department of Agriculture states on its website.

More than 1,000 people died from hornet, wasp or bee stings between 2000 and 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. The agency notes that 80% of the deaths were among males.

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