A swarm of bees attacked a family outside their Lemon Grove home on Wednesday, injuring five people — including four children — and killing the family dog. Three of the victims are now sharing their frightening story.
The incident happened on Wednesday afternoon in the backyard of a home on Dartmoor Drive.
The first few seconds of the attack were caught on a doorbell camera. A terrified Tiffany Ahmu is heard screaming for the children to get out of the pool.
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"Just a black cloud of bees," Tiffany Ahmu said.
"It looked like you were in a movie," daughter Thalia Hernandez said.
"I'm running with the baby, and the only thing on my mind is don't slip," daughter Tatiana Ahmu said.
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NBC 7 spoke with the family where the attack happened. Remaining bees were floating in the pool.
According to the family, the swarm came from the front of the house and through a gated corridor to the backyard. The girls were in the pool and the spa area. They called for their mother.
Tiffany Ahmu came out the side door, but she couldn't get them through the closest entrance. It was locked. She had to go back through the swarm into the house before she could open that door.
Besides her two daughters, there were two other teenage girls. They are friends of the family. Also in the group was an 8-month-old cousin.
The bees first went after Kona, the family's 12-year-old boxer.
"It looked like she fell in a cactus. You could just see all the little stingers," Tiffany Ahmu said.
Kona would not survive the swarm, even though Tiffany Ahmu left the safety of the house to retrieve her.
"I'm dunking her myself, and the bees are swarming around me," she said. "They're stinging the backs of my ears. They were in my hair. I swallowed a bee. I can still feel the stinger in my throat."
Tiffany Ahmu says responding paramedics stopped counting after they removed some 50 stingers from her head and chest.
Tatiana Ahmu was stung multiple times. She is missing the first day of her senior year of high school to go to the emergency room. Her mother is keeping a close eye on her arm.
"I felt nauseous this morning, and I didn't feel like eating. My eye was swollen," Tatiana Ahmu said.
Hernandez also spent the afternoon in the emergency room being treated for several stings, but her thoughts are about Kona.
"I am very sad that I lost my dog," Hernandez said.
The swarm came without warning. While the attack itself lasted less than two minutes, those 90 seconds of terror won't soon be forgotten.
According to the Clemson University Cooperative Extension, when honeybees are swarming, they are less defensive than in or around the hive. If disturbed or agitated, they will defend the cluster.
Experts advise people to keep their distance from a swarm of bees to avoid being stung.
