AN elderly man was attacked by bees yesterday morning while walking in Pleasantville, San Fernando.

A security guard at Pleasantville Secondary School, Stephanie Gidharry, said just before 11.30 a.m. the man was walking past a Trinidad and Tobago  Electricity Commission (T&TEC) light pole located outside the school's compound when the swarm of bees attacked him.

Gidharry said she and other people tried everything they could to keep the bees away from the man, including throwing water on him, but nothing worked.

She called an ambulance, but a good samaritan driving by stopped to help.

By that time bees had covered the man  and he could hardly walk so he was lifted onto the tray of the pick up van by Gidharry and another woman and taken to hospital.

Gidharry said: "I know that T&TEC came and removed the bees last week but nobody knew they came back. I don't know why the bees attacked the man.

He was not harassing them or anything, he was just walking. I don't even know what type of bees they were," she said.

Gidharry said she was hoping the man, who appeared to be in his 60s, would recover from the bee stings.

Anil Gosine, chief executive officer of the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA), said the man was treated immediately at the resuscitation room of the hospital and he was "a bit unstable".

Gosine said that by late afternoon, the patient was stable but would have to be

kept overnight at the hospital for further observation.

Due to industrial action taken by the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA), there were only a few pupils and teachers at the school.

Media coordinator for the Ministry of Education Yolanda Morales-Carvalho said the Ministry was not aware of the incident but would investigate.