Cambodian Man Killed By Hornets While Cleaning Family Shrine - AFP

[hatrack]

A Cambodian teacher was stung to death while trying to clear hornets away from a Buddhist family monument as he prepared for a religious holiday celebrating the dead, a report said Friday.

The 46-year-old man died hours after he was attacked by hundreds of enraged hornets in his village 122 kilometers (75 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh, the local newspaper Koh Santepheap (Island of Peace) said.

Protected only by a raincoat, the man had been trying to destroy two enormous nests on top of his family's stupa so his relatives could worship there during the Pchum Ben festival honoring the dead.

"His relatives dared not invite Buddhist monks to pray for the dead at the site, because the hornets had made their nests on the stupa," the newspaper quoted a neighbour as saying.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2006/060915055338.shfkq05o.html

[Itchinjim]

1. A raincoat?

I hate to say it but, Darwin Award candidate?

[Parche]

2. hornets

Were his relatives 'stung' by the bad news?

[Lenore]

3. I don't know, but...

The incident obviously caused quite a "buzz" in the community and beyond.

Un-BEE-lievable to mess with hornets wearing only a raincoat!