Six-year-old girl dies of snakebite in Gurugram

Police said the girl died in an ambulance while she was being taken to the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi

A six-year-old girl died after being bitten by a five-foot long spectacled cobra in Kherki Daula village in the early hours of Thursday.

The snake was kept under observation for three hours before being released into the Aravallis. (HT Photo)

Police said the girl died in an ambulance while she was being taken to the Safdarjung Hospital in the national capital.

Anil Gandas, a wildlife expert who reached the spot and rescued the cobra from the room, said the poisonous snake had been hiding there for the last couple of days.

“The family members had spotted the snake on Wednesday but did not report it to the wildlife department. They thought it had left the place,” he said.

Wildlife officials said the girl was bitten twice by the snake.

“While the family members were sleeping, the cobra bit the girl. She screamed in pain after which her mother woke up. The snake was spotted in the room and wildlife officials were contacted. The landlord took the girl to a private hospital, but they referred her to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi, and she died on the way in the ambulance,” Gandas said.

Snake sightings in residences have become common over the past few years, according to the district wildlife department. In the past 10 years, there have been 1,200 snake rescues from houses on an average every year.

The snake was kept under observation for three hours before being released into the Aravallis, under the supervision of the wildlife department.

According to wildlife experts, 20 species of snakes are native to the Aravallis and four of them — the monocled cobra, spectacled cobra, black cobra and the common krait — are highly venomous.