A 57-year-old man had to be hospitalized and put on morphine so he could endure the pain of 240 wasp stings after being attacked by a swarm of enraged wasps.

On August 18, Andrew Powell went outside his family home near Brecon, Wales, to inspect the fields, as he usually did, only to see a large swarm of wasps heading his way. He suspects that someone, maybe another farmer, messed with their nest because they came straight for him and started stinging him. Unable to defend himself against what he suspects were thousands of angry wasps, Powell ran toward his house while fighting off the insects as best he could. The insects followed him into the house, attacked his wife as well, and managed to land over 240 stings on the 57-year-old man, leaving him in agony and in need of medical attention.

Photo: Anna Evans/Unsplash

“They rushed towards me and I started running towards the house as fast as I could but within seconds they were all over me. I could feel them up my trousers. They were everywhere,” Mr. Powell recalled. “I ran into the house but at that moment I forgot to close the door behind me and they came into the house.”

Luckily, one of the man’s neighbors came to his aid and took him to Brecon War Memorial Hospital, where he was put on morphine for the excruciating pain and adrenaline for his body allergic reactions. He claims that hospital staff told him that being five minutes later could have killed him, that’s how serious his condition was.

Powell recalls dropping in and out of consciousness as his body was struggling to deal with over 240 poisonous stings and credits doctors with saving his life. More than a week after the incident, the 57-year-old man claims that his hundreds of stings still hurt, although he can now deal with the pain without medication. He still doesn’t dare venture outside his home, though, for fear of getting attacked again.

“The pain is still horrendous,” Powell told the BBC. “Every day I’m finding more and more stings. There are 50 on one side of my buttock that I didn’t realize were there because I was so focused on my chest and back. I’ve got 20 on the back of my head, 20 on my neck and my wife counted more than 80 on each arm.”

“I feel really quite weak and tired because I haven’t slept since it happened because there’s just too much pain,” the man added. “The stings have got worse and have turned purple.”

The mere idea of getting attacked by wasps is nightmare fuel for a lot of people, and pest experts warn that there isn’t a lot you can do to defend yourself other than remain calm and move away slowly. Wasps can and will sting their victims several times, as they do not lose their stinger after the first attack like bees, they don’t fall for “playing dead”, and will wait for you to reemerge if you hide underwater.

While one or two wasp stings are only dangerous if the person is allergic, 30 or 40 stings can be enough to kill a person, so Andrew Powell can definitely consider himself lucky to be alive.