D.C. Fire/EMS crews were dispatched at around noon to the 5000 block of Glover Road NW in Rock Creek Park, for a report of multiple bee stings. According to Fire/EMS spokesperson Pete Piringer, a tour group going through the park came across a bee hive, the bees became agitated somehow, and a total of eight people, both adults and children, were stung multiple times. Two children were taken to Children’s Hospital, while six others were well enough to skip the ambulance trip. The condition of the two children at the hospital is described as not serious, but they did receive multiple bee stings. No word on how many total people were in the tour group, but it seems fair to guess that nearly all of them will come away with a lifetime fear of bees. Shudder.

UPDATE 2:59 p.m.: More details now available. It does appear that the insects in question were in fact yellow jackets, and not bees. The Post also reports that the tour group was made up of private school students from St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes in Alexandria, who were visiting the Rock Creek Park Nature Center.

The group, led by park rangers, was warned before their tour that wasps nested in rotting and felled trees close to the ground, so they should not wander from the trail, Line said.

But apparently some students did not heed those instructions.

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