Deadly encounter in the jungle: Wasp swarm claims the lives of American man and son in Laos

An American father and son died while zip lining at an adventure camp in Laos, following a horrific encounter with a swarm of wasps.

The incident took place on October 15 at Green Jungle Park, where Dan Owen and son Cooper were visiting. Dan was the director of an international school in Neighboring Vietnam and they had traveled to visit a popular tourist site, Luan Prabang.

The pair were descending from a tree via a zip line when a swarm of wasps attacked them, subjecting them both to more than 100 stings across their bodies. They were taken to a local clinic before being transported to Luang Prabang Provincial Hospital.

Jorvue Yianouchongteng, the emergency room physician, told The Associated Press: “The son was unconscious and passed away after half an hour, while the father was conscious and passed away about three hours later... We tried our best to save them but we couldn’t.”

He added that both victims had suffered severe anaphylactic shock as a result of the stings, however the precise cause of death has not been announced. The father and son were moved on from the first clinic because there were only limited medical resources.

The exact species of the wasps has not yet been confirmed. CBS News reports that the Asian giant hornet is found in Laos and is known to be particularly aggressive. Also known as the ‘murder hornet’, the invasive species was identified in the United States in 2019 but has since been eradicated.

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