SEGUIN, Texas – Two Seguin city workers and a passerby are recovering from a bee attack.
The victims were stung multiple times Thursday morning in the 700 block of Baker Street.
Adolfo Mendez, Jr. said he and a co-worker were using a wood chipper to chop up brush that residents had left at the curb when the bees launched their attack from an oak tree.
"So we ran and all of us got (stung). All right here, my face. My ears swelled up, all here on my neck," said Mendez, who pointed out the many sting marks on his body.
Mendez said the bees even attacked his lips.
"Very scary. I wouldn't wish this on anybody."
In addition to the city workers, the bees attacked a woman who was riding her bicycle in the area. Neighbors said she had to be taken to a hospital for treatment. The fire department was not able to provide any additional information about her.
No one was exactly sure what prompted the attack, but Mendez and others believe it might have been noise from the wood chipper that agitated the bees.
Billy Warfield, who lives across the street from the oak tree that is home to the hive, said he has never witnessed anything like it.
"I've never had any problem with them," Warfield said. "I just, kind of wonder if some of the Africanized bees have come along and mingled with them."
Warfield said he has had no reason to fear the huge hive in the past, and even felt comfortable allowing his dog outside. He said, even now, he believes the attack was an isolated event.
Firefighters, however, said this is only one of several bee attacks they've seen in Seguin lately.