A man has died after being stung 40 to 50 times by hornets during a hunting trip in the US.
Larry Crenshaw, 59, from Indiana, was hunting with a friend when they were set upon by the deadly insects on Sunday at around 3.30pm.
The former police detective died when he suffered a heart attack after going into anaphylactic shock, a coroner ruled
His friend Larry Caudill ran to get help as both men did not have a mobile phone and managed to call for help at a nearby home.
Emergency services eventually arrived at the scene and rushed him to Rush Memorial Hospital where he was declared dead shortly after arrival, the Herald Bulletin reported.
"Larry was stung over 40 times and shortly after began to have issues with shortness of breath and collapsed in the woods," the statement read.
His death has been ruled as an accident.
"This was a tragic accident - our thoughts and prayers go out to the Crenshaw family and friends," Rush County Coroner Ron Jarman said.
Mr Crenshaw was a veteran law enforcement officer and had served 26 years with the Anderson Police Department located in Anderson, Indiana, including time as the department's police chief.
It's not known if the bugs were 'murder hornets' which have alarmed wildlife experts.
A menacing trio of them were all found in the space of days in Washington state in the US this week.
They can grow to two-and-a-half inches long, and can pose a threat to humans, say ecologists.
The terrifying hornets prey on bees by decapitating them, and have caused a headache for ecologists.
The hornets, officially named Asian giant hornets, were found by a shocked resident in Blaine, Whatcome County.
One of them was photographed attacking a wasp's nest, the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) said.
Last month a man died after being stung by a swarm of Asian hornets while he was fruit-picking with a friend.
The 70-year-old sadly died after medical professionals were unable to reverse his severe state of anaphylactic shock after the insect attack.
The man, identified only by his first name Celso, was stung while picking persimmons on a farm in Gondomar near the northern Portuguese city of Porto.
