A woman has nearly died after being stung by bees 700 times after they invaded her house.
Linda Briggs, 74, was captured on camera by her neighbour trying to escape the swarm that had attacked her in her home in California.
In the video, she can be seen standing outside her house and trying to distract the bees with a towel. Eventually, she becomes too overwhelmed and falls to the ground. A neighbour attempted to help but was also attacked.
The woman, who was wearing long sleeves and pants, was fortunate that her clothing provided some protection.
Firefighters responded to the scene and sprayed water and foam to control the bees. Ms Briggs said that many of the first responders who arrived at the scene were stung as well.
She expressed her gratitude for surviving the attack, considering that some people have died from similar incidents. She told KTLA: "The next day, everything — the skin, my neck, my chin — everything was tender. I was very lucky that I didn’t die."
Ms Briggs emphasised her luck in not succumbing to the toxins and stated that getting stung again could be fatal for her. Around 700 stingers were removed from the woman's body afterwards.
It was later discovered that around 100,000 bees were living in the walls of her home. A GoFundMe campaign has been started to support the removal of bees from her house.
In the fundraiser, it is said that Ms Briggs underwent a four-hour procedure to remove more than a thousand stingers from her body. Although she will make a full recovery, the bees that attacked her are actually nesting within her home.
This poses a community health threat that needs immediate attention. Linda, known as "the Dog Lady" for her work reuniting lost dogs with their owners, is unable to deal with the bee infestation and home repair due to her fixed income and health conditions.
The estimated cost for bee removal and home repairs is $25,000, and she is seeking help from the community to resolve this issue.
"Beehive removal of this magnitude is very costly, mostly because of the damage the hives have done to the structure after all this time," her family says in the fundraiser, adding: "We invite you to help Linda with the removal of the bee hives and repair to her home. Linda lives alone, is on a fixed income and struggles with several physical and mental health conditions that make it impossible for her to undertake this repair project without your help."
