Hiking group in the Three Gorges accidentally kicks hornet nest; 10 people stung

On the 28th, the Zhongshan Mountaineering Club of Taipei City went hiking in the Xiongkong area of Sanxia. On the way back, some hikers accidentally kicked a hornet nest, causing a swarm of hornets to emerge and sting ten hikers. Two of them experienced dizziness and were temporarily unable to walk. After being sent to Enzhugong Hospital in Sanxia for treatment, all were reported to be in stable condition, and the hornet nest was later removed by a professional bee-catching team.

On the afternoon of the 28th at 1:30 PM, the New Taipei City Fire Department received a report that ten hikers had been injured by a swarm of hornets on the section of road between Xiongkong Bridge and Manyueyuan in Sanxia. The fire department immediately dispatched personnel from the Sanxia, Long’en, Dingpu, and Gan Yuan fire stations to rescue the hikers. First, firefighters provided the injured with cleaning and bandaging, then transported the ten victims to Enzhugong Hospital for emergency treatment. They also cordoned off the area at the scene to prevent other visitors from approaching.

Firefighters explained that the group of hikers had accidentally stepped on a low-lying hornet nest on the trail, disturbing the hornets which then scattered and attacked. Two hikers, in pain from the stings and overwhelmed by shock, were briefly unable to move. Other hikers also scattered in panic but couldn’t avoid being stung. Xie Zhongxian, the group leader, experienced slight numbness in his left arm from a sting but was in stable condition after receiving medical treatment.

You Huizhen, captain of the Sanxia Fire Department, stated that the period from the middle of the eighth lunar month to the middle of the tenth lunar month—roughly summer through early autumn—is typically when hornets are most aggressive, and also when tiger head hornets and local hornets are most likely to sting people. With the season now in winter, such stinging incidents are relatively rare. He speculated that climate warming and other factors might be why hornets remain highly active even at this time of year.