Girl, 11, sees grandad stung to death by swarm of wasps

A MAN of 83 was stung to death by thousands of wasps in front of his 11- year- old granddaughter, an inquest heard.

Clive Southall had accidentally disturbed their nest during a family holiday.

He was attacked by such a large swarm that his horrified relatives could “hardly see his face”.

Mr Southall, was at his holiday home at Llanfair Caereinion, near Welshpool, Mid- Wales, when the wasps suddenly engulfed him last month.

He dashed to the shower in his caravan to try to wash the wasps off but collapsed shortly afterwards from anaphylactic shock – a severe allergic reaction to the stings, the inquest Shropshire, was told.

Mr Southall, a retired service engineer from Brierley Hill, near Dudley, West Midlands, was airlifted to Royal Shrewsbury hospital but died later that day.

The inquest lasted 10 minutes after his family requested it should go ahead in their absence.

Statements from the family were read out by coroner’s officer Julie Hartridge,

She told the hearing: “At some point it seems he slipped and disturbed a wasps’ nest.

“The wasps quickly swarmed upon him and he returned to his

at

Telford, caravan to put his head under the shower in a bid to get rid of the wasps.”

Ms Hartridge added: “His daughter, who was in the caravan, commented that she could hardly see her father’s face because there were so many wasps on him.

“He came out of the bathroom and said that he had been stung a lot of times. Shortly after that he collapsed on the floor.”

A post- mortem examination revealed that he had suffered anaphylactic shock, a life- threatening allergic reaction, as a result of hundreds of wasp stings.

About four people die from insect stings in Britain each year.

Verdict: accidental death.