Michael Winter and William M. Welch

USA TODAY

A swarm of Africanized bees killed one yardworker and critically injured another Wednesday during an attack in southern Arizona, the Douglas Fire Department reported.

The aggressive bees came from a colony of an estimated 800,000 bees in a 3-by-8-foot nest in an attic.

The dead man and his injured co-worker were with the Douglas ARC, which finds jobs for people with developmental disabilities, said Fire Chief Mario Novoa. They were part of a four-man crew cutting grass and weeding for the 90-year-old homeowner, who was not stung.

Two other workers who were stung refused treatment, and a neighbor drove herself to Cochise Regional Hospital for treatment of her stings.

Novoa said he could not identify any of the victims, the homeowner or the exterminator.



It's not clear what caused the attack or how many bees were actually involved, Novoa said.

He also said it wasn't clear whether the homeowner knew about the massive hive, which may have been accumulating for 10 years.



A four-block area was cordoned off after the 10:30 a.m. report of the bee attack. Firefighters in protective bee suits, which are standard equipment in Douglas, first removed part of the eaves and roof before pulling down the ceiling.

The heavy nest filled a 55-gallon drum after extermination, Novoa said.



"There are not many European honey bees left around here, so we treat them all as Africanized bees," he said.

His said his department receives one or two calls a week about bee swarms or hives, but nothing on the scale of Wednesday's attack.

Douglas is on the border with Mexico, about 120 miles southeast of Tucson.