A French boy has died after receiving more than 1,000 bee stings.

The nine-year-old was attacked by a swarm of bees when cycling past a hive in the village of Montils near Poitiers.

France Inter radio reported that the company which owns the apiary had just collected honey from the hives which were located in a sunflower field.

This would have disturbed the bees causing them to attack, it said.

The boy was found on a roadside covered with bees.

He was rushed to hospital in Poitiers, where around 1,000 bees were removed from his body.

The boy suffered breathing and cardiac problems and died on Friday.