Bees drive man to his death
2005-02-10 23:08
Carryn-Ann Nel
Riviersonderend - A church leader is dead after fleeing from a swarm of bees to end up under the wheels of a car.
A resident said on Thursday: "He fled from one danger straight into a worse one and his death."
These were the words on Thursday of a resident after the death of a well-known church leader, who was hit by a car in an effort to escape the attention of a swarm of attacking bees.
Willem de Wee, 56, was killed outright in the bizarre incident when he and a colleague, Izak Windvoël, went to deliver fertiliser to a farm in the district.
According to Stiemie Williams of Riviersonderend, the men apparently had problems with their truck.
"They stopped next to the road and a swarm of bees moved into the truck's cab," she said.
The men retreated to the shade of a tree some distance from their truck.
Windvoël sent De Wee back to the truck to see if the bees had left the cab, said Williams.
"As he walked to the truck, the bees attacked him and, in his effort to get away from them, he ran in front of a car," she said.
De Wee leaves his wife, Marta, five sons and a daughter.
- Die Burger