An American man and his teenage son died last month after they were swarmed by wasps while zip lining at an adventure camp in Laos and stung many dozens of times, a hospital official said Thursday.
Dan Owen, the director of an international school in neighboring Vietnam, and his son Cooper were attacked by the insects on 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 had 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” due to its aggressive behavior toward other insects like bees, is found in Laos but so are several other species of wasps. It was not clear which type had stung the two. Last December, agriculture officials confirmed the Asian giant hornet had been eradicated in the U.S. The invasive species was confirmed to be in the U.S. in 2019 after officials in Washington state received and verified two reports of the hornet, and efforts quickly began to track and get rid of them.
Farmers burn crop waste from a field outside the Laos UNESCO heritage site of Luang Prabang, Saturday, April 6, 2024. / Credit: Elaine Kurtenbach / AP
Phanomsay Phakan, a doctor at the clinic where the two were first treated, told CBS News the two patients stayed there for a short time because they had limited medical facilities.
“The condition of the father and son was very serious, so they were quickly transferred to a nearby provincial hospital for further treatment,” Phakan told CBS News. “I don’t know what happened after that.”
Phakan previously told the U.K. Times that their bodies were covered in red spots.
“It was very, very painful,” Phakan told the Times. “A lot of stings, more than 100, over the whole body. I thought already that it’s a very dangerous situation because I had never seen it as bad as that.”
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.”
The Green Jungle Park did not respond to a query from CBS News. The Laos Foreign Ministry did not respond to an AP request for comment.
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 had 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 out to the Owen family and all who knew and loved them.”
Trump reacts to Democrats’ projected election night wins
Supreme Court appears to push back against Trump administration lawyer over tariffs
Supreme Court justices appear skeptical of Trump’s tariffs policies
