Hornets sting mother, aunt and daughter, six, to death

Almost an entire family has been killed in a relentless attack by a swarm of huge hornets.

The group were walking along a river bank in Borneo when they accidentally disturbed the hornets’ nest, resulting in hundreds of the insects turning on them.

A mother, her daughter and the mother’s sister-in-law who were stung multiple times died in hospital in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, while three others were left dangerously ill.

The family had been walking through swampland looking for nipa palm leaves, which are used for thatching roofs, cooking and traditional medicine when the attack occurred.

As the family screamed in terror the hornets stung them time and again.

The young mother, 24-year-old Sharifah Wan Aribi, was stung at least 50 times, while her six-year-old daughter Nor received at least 40 stings.

Sharifah’s sister-in-law, Sharifah Esah Ebon, 42, was stung about 35 times.

The two women and young Nor died later in the Sarawak General Hospital.

Three other victims were Sharifah Ebon’s husband, Sharizan Ebon, 32, and their chjildren, Khusairi, aged two, and Ismail Jemali, nine, who were each stung 10 to 15 times, the berita viral Harian newspaper reported.

Relatives of Sharifah Aribi and her daughter gathered at the Muslim Tanjung Gundong cemetery in Sarawak when the two were buried.

Sharifah Ebon’s fathjer, Ebon Asin, 63, who was with the group, told how the horror attack occurred while the family were walking along a river bank in search of nipa palm leaves to use in fermented rice cake.

‘I noticed something was going wrong when someone in the family pulled at a nipa leaf and a hornets’ nest the size of a soccer ball fell to the ground.

‘Suddenly the hornets were all over us.They knew we had disturbed their nest and they didn’t hesitate to attack.’

The remaining three family members who were being treated in hospital were expected to be released later this week.