A morning walk turned fatal for Pankaj Shah after he was attacked by a swarm of hornet wasps at Veer Savarkar Udyan in Borivali on Wednesday. The garden has been shut, post the incident. The colony, which was nesting in the hollow of a tree, attacked the 55-year-old resident of Borivali's Yogi Nagar. Other walkers – Ramanuj and Mary Rongavilla Dad – rushed to Shah's aide but ran for cover after the swarm turned on them.

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"We had just dropped off our son at around 10 am," says Ramanuj, "and since we had time to spare, we sat on a bench in the garden, with our back towards the walking track. At around 10.15, we heard someone behind us scream in pain and saw that hundreds of wasps were hovering and attacking Shah, who had fallen on the ground and was trying to fend them off with his walking stick."

The couple tried to help Shah, but had to rush out of the garden when they themselves were stung.

"I felt a burning sensation in my head and realised that I had been stung multiple times on my head," says Rongavilla, adding "Soon, I began feeling giddy. Somehow my husband hailed an auto and we rushed to Karuna hospital where both of us had to be admitted for a day."

Braving the stings, a few other people rushed to help Shah. They were able to pick him up and bring him near the garden's gate. "He was in shock and his head was bleeding. He could barely talk," says Sanjay Sakpal a caretaker of the garden. "We gave him some water and somehow managed to contact his family. In the evening, we were told that he passed away."

Doctors from Karuna hospital said Shah was brought in critical condition and was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), but passed away. His post mortem report stated that, "opinion reserved pending for accessory examination report."

Entomologist Rahul Khot says hornet wasps are known to sting multiple times. "They sting only when they or their nests are disturbed and are known to be extremely aggressive," he says, "Their venom gland produces a variety of toxic substances that can cause both local and systemic manifestations — mostly allergy and anaphylaxis (a rapid allergic reaction that can cause death)."

Ramakant Biradar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner (BMC R/Central) visited the garden on Friday and says they are looking at various options to remove the nest, including cutting the hollow tree. "We have asked the garden to remain shut till the nest is removed," he said "And since this is the first such incident, we will also carry out a survey across all gardens to see if there are other such nests to avoid more such unfortunate incidents."