Family in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg completes last rituals donning PPE kits after bee attack

Sindhudurg: Family members of a village in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district completed the last rites of an elder wearing PPE kits after a swarm of honey bees attacked them while they had started the cremation process, police said.

The family members and a few other locals had gathered on Thursday near the Tithavali village in Vaibhavwadi taluka to perform the last rites of a 70-year-old farmer, who passed away following a cardiac arrest, when the swarm of bees, began attacking those gathered there.

The bees apparently got agitated due to the smoke emanating from the burning of dry wood nearby, a villager said.

Some villagers were stung and as the bee attack continued, someone decided to approach a nearby primary health centre at Umbardi, from where they procured five Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits.

Two hours after the last rites had begun, the son of the deceased and four other close family members completed the mukhagni (cremation ceremony) wearing PPE kits, police said.