Seven persons were injured in a wild-bee attack atop Mallappa Konda hill, 25 km from Kuppam on Friday evening. The incident came to light on Saturday.
According to sources, a couple in their early 20s from Tekal in Karnataka’s Kolar district, visited the hilltop on a bike in the evening. After a stroll through the thickets, the two were about to leave when a swarm of wild bees attacked them. They receiving stings all over their bodies and started crying for help.
A few residents, who were on their way to the hilltop to light lamps on the occasion of Pournami, heard their cries and rushed to their rescue; they too were attacked by the bees. On information, a 108 ambulance reached the spot and the two were taken to PES medical college at Kuppam. Five residents, injured in the bee attack, were treated as outpatients at a government hospital.
Sources said the bees entered the duo’s ears and nostrils. They also received multiple stings on their eyelids. The two were being kept under observation at the hospital.
Mallappa Konda Hill, with a Shiva temple atop, is famous in Kuppam and several villages bordering Karnataka. Over the past five years, about a dozen incidents of bee attacks have been reported from Mallappa Konda hilltop.