Shahjahanpur: After battling for her life for five days, a 12-year-old schoolgirl who was stung by a swarm of wild bees succumbed to injuries late on Thursday night.According to sources, the bees stung the girl on Sunday. She died while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Lakhimpur city on Thursday midnight.The girl was attacked at Nandapura village under Ludhori gram panchayat in Nighasan block of Lakhimpur Kheri district. The region has numerous bee hives, which pose a constant threat to locals. This area is adjacent to Ludhori range of Dudhwa Tiger Reserve.Sources said the victim, Julie Kumari, was returning home after giving food to her father when she was attacked by a swarm of wild bees. She was rescued by locals who lit a fire to force the bees to fly away. Julie was immediately rushed to the community health centre where doctors provided her initial treatment and referred her to the district hospital.However, Julie’s condition continued to deteriorate. Her father, Suresh Kumar, shifted her to a private hospital where she died during treatment on Thursday midnight. The family refused to send the body for an autopsy and turned down offer of compensation from the district administration.A resident, Vinod Gupta, told TOI, “There are four huge bee hives at our village. Ever since the child was attacked, locals are scared of venturing near the spot where the hives are. I have informed Ludhori forest officer, Shiv Babu Saroj, and asked him to visit our village and provide us a solution because these bees are different from normal ones. They are dark black in color and if a single bee stings anyone, the person gets fever. The behaviour of these bees is different from normal bees. These aggressive bees attacked the girl without any provocation. Normally, honey bees attack when their hive is disturbed.”When TOI spoke with divisional forest officer, North, Anil Patel about this issue, he said, “We will send a team to the village to check the hives on Saturday. If the hive is situated outside the forest area, then it could be removed if it is posing a threat to locals.”

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