KANPUR, Feb. 19 -- A day after veteran cricket umpire Manik Gupta died following a bee swarm attack at the Rahul Sapru ground in Shuklaganj, Unnao, more details have emerged on Thursday about how the tragedy unfolded. A swarm had attacked at 8 am, stung a few people and retreated, yet the cricket matches went ahead as planned. By afternoon, 65-year-old Gupta, a three-decade veteran of junior cricket in Kanpur, was on the ground, engulfed by the same swarm with more than 150 stings on his body. He died at the hospital later that day.

Gupta had just finished officiating an under-13 match between YMCA and Paramount when the bees erupted from a hive in a banyan tree at the boundary wall and descended on the ground. Younger players and staff ...