Tuesday, August 8, 2000

FIVE members of a family needed hospital treatment after a "black cloud" of wasps chased them along a river bank.

It is thought that more than 1,000 wasps descended on the family after a pushchair disturbed their nest on the banks of the River Itchen, near Eastleigh, Hants.

Susan Chant, 29, was walking with her two children, Callum, two, and Danielle, 10, and her mother and stepfather, Carol and Ray Hurricks, when the wasps attacked on Sunday evening. Mr Hurricks threw a rain cover over Callum's pushchair to protect him as the swarm chased the family for 10 minutes to their home.

Mr Hurricks was stung more than 100 times and Mrs Chant said she was stung 40 times, with Danielle receiving five stings and Callum eight. Mrs Chant said: "The whole thing was like something out of a horror film. It was incredible, the wasps suddenly appeared out of nowhere like a black cloud."

Martin Walker, a pest control officer called to the scene, said: "When I arrived, the pushchair was still covered in wasps. It looked as if one of its wheels had collapsed part of the nest."

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