Final Destination: Kayln Rolan 29, Alex Bestler 22, Cindy Waldron, 46 Taylor Mitchel 19

Kayln Rolan from Wetumpka in Alabama was using her phone to organise her mother's funeral on a haystack when the fire ants attacked.

The mother of two, 29, suffered a severe reaction and started swelling to the point she couldn't breathe.

Mrs Rolan died despite her husband attempting to save her by taking off her clothes.

The victim's mother-in-law, Sheila Rolan said: "She died in my son's arms. I can only imagine what he's going through right now, you know, and then having to save her mother too.

"I wish I could do more for him, I wish I could take that load off of him.

She added: "Having to bury two people, even on both sides, trying to come up with money its hard."

In the last three years, there were three deaths from yellow jacket wasps and one death from a snake in Alabama but no reported ant-related deaths.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/woman-kayln-rolan-alabama-killed-by-fire-ants-the-day-after-her-mother-dies-a7052581.html

Hiker dies after 1000 bee stings in Ariz. attack
WLS-TV‎ - 11 hours ago
A man has died after being swarmed by bees.
Hiker Who Was Killed By 1000 Bee Stings Was Visiting Area to Meet His Father for the First Time
Yahoo News‎ - 2 days ago
Man killed by bees was in Mesa to meet dad for first time

PHOENIX --
A man has died after being swarmed by bees.

The 22-year-old was hiking on a trail in Arizona, KPHO-TV reports.

Experts still aren't sure what prompted the bees to attack.

Hikers at Usery Mountain Park were stunned to learn that a man died after being swarmed and stung more than 1,000 times by bees Thursday.

"I've been coming out here for many years, and I've seen bees and I can hear bees, but I have never had a problem with them personally, and this is the first I've heard ever heard of such an attack like this at this park," said Cindy Hinkleman.

The sheriff's office identified the victim as Alex Bestler of Louisiana. They say he was hiking on the Vista Trail with a friend when the attack happened.

His friend, who was in front of him, was able to get away and take cover in a bathroom.

"This is about the time they're out in full force," Hinkleman said.

   Cindy Waldron, 46, was dragged under the water during a late-night swim at Thornton Beach in the Daintree National Park on Sunday night.

   Police said friend Leeann Mitchell, 47, tried to drag her to safety, but she could not be rescued.

   Ms Waldron’s New Zealand-based parents are making plans to travel to Queensland, where a desperate search is still underway for her remains.

   “There’s nothing we can do as such but we need to be there on the ground to show that we are there, that we care. Our darling girl is gone,” Mr Waldron told The New Zealand Herald.

   “We are pretty upset. Everybody knows about it. It’s everywhere.”

http://www.news.com.au/national/que...e/news-story/6fe388583c115d24b443f0cf02df466b

Woman dies at favourite Blue Mountain spot

A young Sydney-based teaching student who died after slipping 20 metres down a waterfall knew the dangers of her favourite Blue Mountains track.

The 21-year-old Singaporean national Cheng Shi Min, known as Angel, sustained head and chest injuries when she slipped down Empress Falls near Wentworth Falls on Tuesday afternoon.

The avid bushwalker had taken her boyfriend, named in the media as Henry Yendle, and her father on the Valley of the Waters walking track, which she'd previously trekked solo.

"Out alone hiking. It was awesome," she wrote on Facebook in January last year, also attaching photos from the popular walking track including several from Empress Falls.

In a detailed blog from that day Angel said the trek was "definitely not for the faint hearted".

"Compared to katoomba, wentworth fall trails are much more dangerous. Like if I trip, that's it. I'm going to fall down the valley. Being alone, that's a little ... worrying," she said.

"So always say hello and hope people remember you if there's ever a 'have-you-seen-this-person search'."

Ms Cheng said the track wasn't well signposted.

"So ... you just kinda have to know your way around. Or guess your way around," she said.

She returned to Wentworth Falls in March with her parents and friends, and again on Tuesday when she took her boyfriend and her dad, who had just arrived from Singapore.

Mr Yendle told Fairfax Media his girlfriend been peering over the top of the falls when she lost her footing and fell.

"I rushed down, along with her father, as quickly as we could. I tossed basically everything out of my pockets and jumped in the pool and I found her lying face-down in the water. I flipped her over as quickly as possible and tried to pull her out," he said.

"We were lucky that there were a few people nearby. I yelled for an ambulance. They rushed up and we tried for maybe 20 minutes to pull her out of the water, and it was freezing."

Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/05/11/07/31/woman-dies-after-blue-mountain-fall#OYT5xR6FAawxC2WC.99

Mount Everest death: Maria Strydom fell ill just 15 minutes from summit

Husband Robert Gropel reached the top as Strydom waited for him, but she died in his arms on the descent


At first Robert Gropel thought his wife, Maria Strydom, was simply exhausted from the effort of climbing Everest. The Australian couple had halted at well above 8,000 metres, in an area known as the death zone, as Strydom said she could not continue. Gropel asked her for permission to go on to the summit.

What neither of them realised was that it was not simply exhaustion but altitude sickness, and that it would cost 34-year-old Strydom her life.

In a moving interview with Australian television, Gropel described the hours leading to his wife’s death and the decisions they both made that for him were tinged with grief and regret.

Above 8,000 metres, even with supplemental oxygen, the risks increase markedly. The blood thickens which, combined with dehydration and effort, can trigger altitude sickness, which at its worst can cause a lethal buildup of fluid on the lungs and brain.

Complicating the issue is that it affects individuals in different ways, and the onset of the first symptoms is sometimes mistaken for tiredness or a minor illness. Decision-making can become more difficult. Small mistakes – a dropped item of equipment, a stumble, something as simple as not drinking enough or the question of when to turn back or carry on – can have multiplying and serious consequences.

With the summit apparently only 15 minutes away, Gropel asked his wife whether he should continue without her.

I didn’t want to separate from her. I wanted her to keep going,” he said of the decision to leave her and press on to the top. “I also understood she was very exhausted. I just ran up and down and it didn’t mean anything to me. Because we do everything together and everything else we did together was much more special.

“When I made it to the summit of Everest it wasn’t special to me, because I didn’t have her there.”

After he returned to Strydom the pair began their descent, but it was soon clear that something was seriously amiss. Strydom began hallucinating, struggled to walk and was talking incoherently, perhaps the result of a stroke triggered by cerebral odema.

Helped at times by a group of sherpa guides, and at other times apparently struggling on his own, he shared oxygen with Strydom until that ran out and then, suffering the effects of altitude himself, recalled that he had medication for altitude sickness.

“It took a while for me to register that I had medication and so as soon as I realised I gave her a dexamethasone injection.”

But the long period spent high on the mountain was taking its toll on Strydom, who by the time she faded into unconsciousness had been without extra oxygen for 20 hours.

“I could see that her condition had deteriorated,” Gropel said. “She was going through periods of being lucid and periods of hallucinating.”

Gropel’s interviewer, Steve Pennells, said in the broadcast: “There was a point where they thought she would get better. Her condition had improved and she was taking medication and fluids and had made camp. And then overnight she just got worse.” Strydom died in Gropel’s arms on 20 May.

“Walking away was the hardest thing [for him],” Pennells said. “You can imagine, or hopefully you can’t, making the decision to come off the mountain knowing that the body of your wife is up there.”

Strydom, a university lecturer, and Gropel, a vet, had wanted to climb the highest mountains on each continent, a challenge known as the Seven Summits.
Mount Everest death toll rises to three amid overcrowding fears
Read more

Gropel said: “She was my motivation idol, my hero, she was a very strong advocate for women, she was the perfect person. I’m just trying to be strong. I’m learning to cope and block out what causes sort of, breakdowns and trying to get the job done of bringing my wife home.

“I’m her husband, it’s my job to protect my wife and get her home and it’s just natural for me to blame myself. I still can’t look at any pictures of her because it breaks my heart.”

Sherpa climbers brought Strydom’s body down the mountain to Camp Two on Wednesday. A rescue helicopter picked it up and took it to Kathmandu on Friday.

“Her body has now been brought to Kathmandu from the mountain,” said Phu Tenzi Sherpa of the Seven Summit Treks, which organised her expedition.

Family seeks $5M from Dallas for dog attack death
FOX 4 News-May 26, 2016
The family of a woman mauled to death by a pack of dogs in South Dallas is demanding $5 million from the City of Dallas. But a city attorney ..