AN UNUSUAL ATTACK by bees in the French town of Aurillac has left 24 people injured, including three in a critical condition.

The Prefecture of Cantal, in south-central France, said passers-by were stung over a period of about 30 minutes yesterday morning.

Firefighters and medical teams rushed to the scene to treat the victims while police set up a security perimeter until the bees stopped their attack.

The three people in a critical condition were evacuated to a local hospital.

Pierre Mathonier, the mayor of Aurillac, told French broadcaster France 3 the incident may have been related to Asian hornets threatening beehives that had been installed on the roof terrace of a town centre hotel more then 10 years ago.

He said this had likely caused the bees to become aggressive.

“All ended well,” he said. “The emergency services were perfectly coordinated. There was no panic in Aurillac but a number of people were stung.”

Mathonier added that one 78-year-old was stung 25 times.

Lieutenant-colonel Michel Cayla, who is in charge of the local fire services, said he had never experienced such an attack. He said one of the victims was in cardiorespiratory arrest and had to be resuscitated in the fire department ambulance.

“In terms of the number of victims, the panic among the people and the severity of some of the injuries, it was impressive,” he told broadcaster TF1.