BATON ROUGE - A specialist was called to a demolition site near downtown Baton Rouge Monday after the project seemingly disturbed a colony of bees.

Witnesses contacted WBRZ around 3 p.m. saying 'thousands' of the bugs were swarming on S 15th Street near Myrtle Walk Street. 

"They were attacking me and I was on the ground because I couldn't believe I was being attacked by bees," said Jerome Byrd, who works nearby. "I got hit in the eye, in the neck twice, in both legs and one on the chest."

Byrd says he was stung around eight times, and went to urgent care to get an antibiotic.

A city official says a blighted home was being torn down at that address when workers discovered the bees. They say the protocol when this happens is to stop working and close the house. However, they don't have someone lined up to call to remove them.

Byrd says he wished the city-parish would have helped more. It was those stung who called 311 to get a professional bee removal service to the scene.

"They stirred them up and then they left and when they left it got worse. [Workers] never came back to see what was going on," he said. 

The beekeeper told WBRZ that because he couldn't find the hive, the bees will likely stay in the area for the next four to five days.

A News 2 videographer was also stung multiple times while passing through the area.