In a strange incident, an eight-year-old child in the isolated Pandarpadh hamlet of the Jashpur district, roughly 350 km northeast of Raipur, bit a cobra snake to death after it became wrapped around his hand.
While Deepak was playing in his house’s backyard, a venomous cobra attacked him.
“The snake bit me after wrapping itself around my hand. I was suffering a lot. I tried to shake the reptile off, but it wouldn’t budge, so I gave it two good bites. All of it happened in an instant, he informed the neighbourhood media.
His family rushed him to a nearby primary health centre. “He was quickly administered anti-snake venom and kept under observation for the entire day and discharged,” said Dr Jems Minj, block medical officer. “Deepak didn’t show any symptoms and recovered fast owing to the dry bite when the poisonous snake strikes but no venom is released. Such snakebites are painful and may show only local symptoms around the area of bite,” explained Qaiser Hussain, snake expert.
Such cases are rare. “I have never come across such an incident in Jashpur district,” said Ramesh Sharma, a senior journalist. Jashpur is a tribal district, which is also known as Naglok (abode of serpents) because it has over 200 species of snakes, he said.