A man who endured the pain of nearly 100 bee stings has been discharged from Hawke's Bay Hospital.
The 43-year-old stopped to check on the bees he had been transporting in Putorino on Friday, only to have the queen bee fly down the back of his shirt and the rest of them fly in after it.
An ambulance transporting a patient from Wairoa came across the dramatic scene, as the man thrashed about with bees swarming all over him.
St John district operations manager Stephen Smith said: "The bees were swarming around him and the queen bee had got into his suit. He was telling the St John staff to stay away and he told other motorists who stopped to help to stay away as well."
A passing logging truck stopped and the man jumped in and was driven about 300m down the road away from the bees and where paramedics were waiting.
