American and teenage son die after being stung by wasps in Laos

The Owens were fatally stung near Luang Prabang (Elaine Kurtenbach/AP)

An American man and his teenage son have died after they were swarmed by wasps while zip-lining at an adventure camp in Laos and stung dozens of times, a hospital official said.

Dan Owen, the director of an international school in neighbouring Vietnam, and his son Cooper were attacked by the insects on October 15 at the Green Jungle Park, as they were descending from a tree at the end of the zip line.

The camp is located outside the city of Luang Prabang, a popular tourist site in the south-east Asian nation that was named a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1995.

The two were taken to a local clinic and then to Luang Prabang Provincial Hospital where they arrived in a critical condition, said Jorvue Yianouchongteng, the emergency room doctor who received them.

Our sincere condolences go our to the Owen family and all who knew and loved them.”

“The son was unconscious and passed away after half an hour, while the father was conscious and passed away about three hours later,” he told The Associated Press. “We tried our best to save them but we couldn’t.”

The doctor said both had suffered from severe anaphylactic shock after being stung more than 100 times across their bodies but the exact cause of death had not been determined.

The Asian giant hornet, known as the “murder hornet” due to its aggressive behaviour toward other insects, is found in Laos but so are several other species of wasps. It was not clear which type had stung the two.

The local clinic where the two were first treated refused to comment and the Green Jungle Park did not respond to a query from the AP. The Laos Foreign Ministry also did not respond to a request for comment.

The US State Department said it could confirm the deaths of two US citizens in Luang Prabang but would not comment further “out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones”.

In a Facebook post, Mr Owen’s employer, Quality Schools International, praised him as “touching countless lives” during 18 years with the chain, which operates 35 schools around the world.

It said he had worked at five of its schools and was director of the QSI International School of Haiphong in Vietnam at the time of his death.

“He was deeply loved across our community and will be profoundly missed,” the school said. “Our sincere condolences go our to the Owen family and all who knew and loved them.”