Videos circulate in local media showed rally attendees hurrying to escape swarm at event for Iván Duque

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Campaign managers for Colombia’s rightwing presidential candidate Iván Duque were probably hoping to create a bit of a buzz with a campaign rally ahead of next week’s election, but the event turned into fiasco after it was attacked by a swarm of angry killer bees.

Scores of people were caught up in the bizarre incident on Saturday, including former president Álvaro Uribe, who was stumping on behalf of his protege Duque.

Uribe had been scheduled to address supporters in La Loma, a small town in the northern Cesar province, but was forced to run for cover before he could give his speech. Fifteen people were taken to hospital, but were later discharged.

Videos circulated in local media showed rally attendees hurrying to escape the swarm, some covering their faces with T-shirts.

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The attack took place a week before the second round of a presidential election in which Duque – a conservative hardliner – will face off against leftist former rebel Gustavo Petro.

Neither candidate secured enough of the vote to win outright in a first round last month, so both men and their surrogates are back on the campaign trail.

At stake in the vote is a fragile peace process with guerrilla group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (or Farc). The deal – which Petro supports – has been strongly opposed by Duque.

Fernando Araújo, a senator from Duque and Uribe’s party, the Democratic Centre, alleged Petro was behind Saturday’s attack, accusing the candidate of “bioterrorism” on Twitter.

Petro responded: “So it turns out that african bees are Petro supporters,” he tweeted. “Could it be because they are workers?”

Memes showing images of bees with Petro’s face superimposed made the rounds on social media, injecting some levity to what has so far been a bitter race fraught with personal attacks.

Juan Pacheco (@pachecoramosj) Dicen que el ataque con abejas de la loma cesar fue pactada en La Habana, hay prueba fotográfica pic.twitter.com/oSyu8A7FQW

Some even suggested that the Farc had a hand in the incident, though experts say the mostly likely explanation is that the gust generated by Uribe’s helicopter upset a nest in a nearby tree.