An American man and his son die after suffering stings from a swarm of wasps while ziplining in Laos
-
Click here to listen to this article - Share via
- An American man and his teenage son died from wasp stings while ziplining in Laos, each suffering more than 100 stings.
- The boy lost consciousness and died within 30 minutes; his father died about three hours later from anaphylactic shock.
- The father directed an international school in Vietnam; both were attacked at Green Jungle Park, a tourist destination near Luang Prabang.
BANGKOK — An American man and his teenage son died last month after they were swarmed by wasps while ziplining at an adventure camp in Laos and each stung more than 100 times, a hospital official said Thursday.
Dan Owen, the director of an international school in neighboring Vietnam, and his son Cooper were attacked Oct. 15 at the Green Jungle Park as they were descending from a tree at the end of the zip line.
The camp is located outside the city of Luang Prabang, a popular tourist site in the Southeast Asian nation that was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.
The two were taken to a local clinic and then transported to Luang Prabang Provincial Hospital where they arrived in critical condition, said Jorvue Yianouchongteng, the emergency room physician who received them.
“The son was unconscious and passed away after half an hour, while the father was conscious and passed away about three hours later,” he told the Associated Press. “We tried our best to save them but we couldn’t.”
The doctor said both suffered from severe anaphylactic shock after being stung more than 100 times across their bodies, but that exact cause of death had not been determined.
The Asian giant hornet, known as the “murder hornet” because of its aggressive behavior toward other insects, is found in Laos as are several other species of wasps. It was not clear which type stung the two.
The local clinic where the two were first treated refused to comment and the Green Jungle Park did not respond to a query from the AP. The Laos Foreign Ministry also did not respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. State Department said it could confirm the deaths of two U.S. citizens in Luang Prabang but would not comment further “out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones.”
In a Facebook post, Owen’s employer, Quality Schools International, praised him as “touching countless lives” during 18 years with the chain, which operates 35 schools around the world. It said he worked at five of its schools and was director of the QSI International School of Haiphong in Vietnam at the time of his death.
“He was deeply loved across our community and will be profoundly missed,” the school said. “Our sincere condolences go our to the Owen family and all who knew and loved them.”
Ekvitthayavechnukul and Rising write for the Associated Press.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
In this episode, we bring you the update on how an Altadena resident and her neighborhood are coming along, plus a re-run of the two-part series we did on the Poppyfields people back in June.
California once bet big on offshore wind to help power its clean-energy future, but the Trump administration is now paying developers billions to walk away from their projects. As California’s remaining offshore-wind leases hang in the balance, the state is fighting back in court.
The Hillside Strangler murders terrorized Los Angeles in the late 1970s. The killers were a pair of sadistic cousins. One confessed. The other was set to stand trial—until L.A. prosecutors flinched.
