Pilibhit, Nov 11 (IANS): Attacked by a swarm of bees, a 70-year-old farmer died in Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit district.

He was attacked by bees while he was working in his agriculture field in Amkhera village under Barkhera police circle.

The matter came to light on Thursday evening when the he did not return home and his family started looking for him.

According to villagers, they found Sundar Lal lying in the field with bees covering his entire body.

The locals then used smoke to drive away the bees, but it was too late and Sundar Lal had died by then.

SHO of Barkhera police station, Udaiveer Singh, said the matter was not brought to the notice of police and the locals cremated the body and hence no autopsy could be conducted.

A villager said that there was a large beehive on a tree near his farm was taken down by someone and the bees might have moved towards Sundar's farm and attacked him.

Additional District Magistrate (finance & revenue), R.S. Gautam said compensation could be paid to the next of kin of victims in such cases on humanitarian ground, but an autopsy report was required to refer the matter to higher authorities.