A tragic incident unfolded in Australia as a 69-year-old man lost his life while attempting to save his friend from a venomous snake bite. The incident occurred during the Koumala State School’s 100-year celebrations in central Queensland.
When the elderly man noticed a snake coiled around his friend’s ankle, he courageously tried to remove it. In the process, the snake bit him multiple times on the chest and arm. The bites were severe, and the man went into cardiac arrest. Despite the valiant efforts of paramedics and bystanders who performed CPR, he tragically passed away at the scene.
Claire Bertenshaw, the Queensland Ambulance Service’s acting deputy commissioner, expressed the heroic measures taken to save the man’s life but noted that he couldn’t be revived. The second man, also in his 60s, was transported to Mackay Base Hospital and is in stable condition.
Tributes poured in on social media, with many referring to the man as a “good friend and neighbor” and hailing him as a “hero” for his selfless actions.
While the exact species of the snake remains unknown, Dr. Bertenshaw suggested that the symptoms indicated it might have been a highly venomous eastern brown snake. Eastern brown snakes are known for their potent neurotoxin, which progressively paralyzes the victim’s nerves, affecting the heart, lungs, and diaphragm and eventually leading to suffocation.
Although snake bites are relatively common in Australia, with approximately 3,000 occurring annually, fatal bites are rare. Queensland, in particular, is home to around 78 species of venomous snakes, but only 12 of them are considered “potentially dangerous” by the Queensland Government.
