Man Died After Being Stung By Wasps While Looking For Durians In Forest Near Hillview MRT

Wasps. Generally, assholes camouflaging as bees whose mission is just to spread hate and be a twat.

If encountered in the wild, there’s nothing you can do except pray and hope it doesn’t put you on the “shit to f up today” list. Cover your face and run because it can literally kill you, against the wind so the resistance makes it harder for them to chase.

Sometimes, bad things happen to people even when they don’t deserve it.

Because there is no such thing as “bad” or “good” for nature.

66-year-old retiree picked fruits since he was a kid

Quek Lye Seng, 66, father of 2 sons, grew up in a kampung as a child. Since young, he would look for fruits in forested areas. According to one of his son, he would go 4 or 5 times a week during peak season for fruits.

And he had never been injured until this wasp incident.

Stung by wasps on a usual trip

On 5 July 2019, 2.45 pm, he went on his usual trip to Hillview MRT station by cycling to look for durians and rambutans in the nearby forested area.

The rest of the information came from the ambulance log where Mr Quek told Ng Teng Fong General Hospital staff what happened.

He was believed to have alarmed a nest of wasps while picking fruits, which resulted in him being chased and stung at least 30 times on his face and head, with more on his body.

He managed to call for help at the nearby MRT station, meanwhile struggling to breathe and feeling dizzy.

A passer-by managed to call an ambulance which sent him to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, where he arrived conscious.

He had an anaphylactic reaction, a severe allergic reaction resulting in difficulty in breathing and low blood pressure. He died later in the hospital, though different news sources differ in the timing.

The family’s bad luck with nature

This isn’t the first time this family had an incident involving nature. In May 2007, Mr Quek’s wife, Madam Ho Siew Lan, went on a morning walk and was crushed by a falling tree in Bukit Batok Nature Park. This also marked the 1st fatality from a falling tree by NParks.

The incident happened 7 am on a Tuesday, with 2 of Madam Ho’s friends who managed to avoid death with only cuts and bruises.

At that point, Mr Quek worked as a production operator, earning about S$1,300 a month and Madam Ho worked as a dental assistant earning a similar amount.

Their 2 sons, who were serving NS and studying polytechnic back then, are now 30 and 32, both working.

They hadn’t seen their father since dinner last Thursday and did not get to speak to him as he was on life support machines.

Mr Quek’s funeral and cremation were held at Bright Hill Crematorium on 10 July 2019.

NParks to patrol and remove certain hives

NParks knows of the incident, and group director of Conservation, NParks, says that officers will “patrol designated trails regularly” and “remove hives that may pose a risk to public safety.”

But note that there are still hives deeper into the forest, and that bee and wasp hives can not only be found in trees but also on the ground.

PSA: Nature and wasps do not discriminate in arseholery