Salem: At least 450 girls and boys of a model school in Kolathur near Salem from class six to plus-two level had gathered at the courtyard for a mass demo on how to keep hands clean to ‘Word Hand Washing Day’. But to their unexpected misery, the fragrance of the soaps used was so strong, wafting away on a windy day to disturb bees in a honeycomb behind the school building.
Even as the students were "washing their hands" to express solidarity with the global movement on the need for children in particular to keep their hands clean to avoid diseases, a swarm of bees flew out of the honeycomb and began to attack them.
The students in fright fell flat on the ground in a bid to save themselves from the bees’ attack, but 70 students were injured. They were rushed to PHC.
