Up to Wednesday, the Mundini family of five, from 193 Kaieteur Park, was coping with the aftermath of an invasion by a hive of Africanized bees which caused the family to exit their home hurriedly last Saturday.

Mr. Adair Mundini, right, with relatives on the roof removing honey combs from the hive.

True to their nature, the bees literally took over the home when they swarmed the family’s living room as they were watching television.

“We ran out of the house when we saw the bees, and we were all stung, my wife and I, my son and my daughter”, Mr. Adair Mundini said.

According to an expert source, under usual circumstances, if some one is stung, the result is discomfort for the human but death for the bee.

While Mundini confirmed his family’s discomfort, he added that the family’s German shepherd was stung multiple times and had died.

Mundini explained that after Saturday’s incident, he called a general emergency number and was directed to the Ministry of Agriculture’s Bee Unit.

“When I called the ministry, they sent someone with a chemical spray to kill the bees,” Mundini said.

Cross section of the nest under the roof of the home.

The home-owner explained that the hive was between the roof and the ceiling.

Mundini said, “He sprayed the ceiling and then locked the room and told us not to open it until Monday, which was when he would return.”

However, before the ministry representative returned, Mundini, assisted by relative, made his way to the roof and got rid of the honeycombs that were there.

According to a passerby, who dealt with bees, the colour of the honeycomb indicated that the hive may have been there for almost a year.

Africanized Bees were, around 1956, imported from Africa to Brazil in an effort to improve bee-keeping in the tropics.

The bees were well suited to conditions in Brazil, and they began colonizing South America, hybridizing with European honey bees (hence the name “Africanized” bees) and eventually displacing the European bees.

The bees spread northward at a rate of 186 to 310 miles per year, and today every country in South and Central America has established populations.

Some of the honeycombs removed from the roof..

Unfortunately for the Mundini family, their home was another location that the Africanized Bees chose to establish their population.

In the event of an encounter with the Africanized bees, experts advise persons to:

* run away as fast as possible; get into a building or vehicle if you can;

* try to cover your face and head as you run;

* call the Ministry of Agriculture’s Bee Unit on 592-226-8714;

* start removing stingers from your skin once you are away from the bees; you can remove them by scraping, pulling, or using sticky tape;

* stop to remove stingers only when you are safely away from the attacking bees.

* not jump into water; and

* not panic.