Tragic Death by Bee Sting in Texas As often occurs with freak accidents, this incident really could have happened to anyone. The bees were living inside a pipe, eighteen inches in diameter, and the gigantic hive was completely hidden from view. The man on the tractor could not have known what was nesting there when he collided with it. The bees had build a honeycomb estimated at twenty feet long inside the concrete pipe. They swarmed and attacked Rogerio Zuniga, who ran from the tractor before collapsing about a hundred feet away. Family members later found Mr. Zuniga's body, still covered in bees. He sustained gaping, open wounds from the attack. Exterminators were called to the seen, and upon opening the pipe discovered the extensive hive. One of the responders was Raul Zuniga, Jr, the fire chief and Mr. Zuniga's cousin. "We got help from the county and an exterminator, but we broke the concrete pipe to get into it. The thing was just filled with bees," Raul said. "They were extremely aggressive, too. One of the guys on my team got stung through his veil." Other family members who live on the rural property say that bees have always been a problem and something to watch out for, but this year they seem to be worse. Colonies are sometimes mixed with Africanized bees, which makes them much more dangerous to people. Removing the bees from the pipe took about four hours. Work crews, including a local exterminator, continued to be swarmed by the bees as they labored.