UPDATE (7/25/14 9:30 AM): City officials have thoroughly searched the Weeks Park Tennis Center area and have determined that there are no more bees in the vicinity. All public access has been restored to the Tennis Center, Circle Trail, and golf course.

The three city Street Department employees who were attacked by the bees have all been treated and released from the hospital.

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Original report:

Three City of Wichita Falls employees have been sent to the hospital after they were attacked by Africanized Honey Bees. A Street Department employee was mowing grass near the Weeks Park Tennis Center, 4101 Weeks Park Lane, when he was attacked by the bees and received an nearly 1,000 stings.

Three street department employees were attacked. One has been treated and released.  The other two remain hospitalized in good condition. It was originally reported that a firefighter who responded to the scene was also attacked, but he was not taken to the hospital.

The Tennis Center, three holes of the Champions Golf Course at Weeks Park and the Circle Trail near the tennis center are all closed at this time.  Citizens are asked to avoid this location until emergency personnel can confirm that the bees have left the area.

Africanized Honey Bees are the result of cross-breeding of European and African honey bees in Brazil in the 1950’s.  More than two dozen swarms escaped quarantine there in 1957 and began spreading north, reaching North America about 1985

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