A swarm of bees attacked a construction crew in Riverside on Monday morning, leaving one man dead and two others injured, officials said.
The attack happened just before 10 a.m. in the 5200 block of Van Buren Boulevard. Construction crews contracted by Wal-Mart were grading a space for a new parking lot when they encountered an underground bee hive, Riverside Fire Department officials said in a statement.
"I was in the tractor, I looked down and he's swatting the bees," construction worker Thomas Marquez said. "You could just see a swarm around his head."
Marquez said colleagues used their jackets to swat the bees and sprayed the man with water to get the swarm off him.
One of the three victims, identified only as an electrician with Perris-based JDI Electrical Solutions, had a severe allergic reaction and was transported to Parkview Community Hospital, where he died, the California Department of Industrial Relations told City News Service.
The other two victims suffered minor to moderate injuries.
A bee hive removal worker said the swarm appeared to be an Africanized bee colony.
