Deadly 7-Foot Snake Bites 4-Year-Old Girl At Home, Child Dies

In a horrific incident, a kindergarten girl died after being bitten by a snake last week at Kalolone in Meru, Kenya.

Four-year-old Blessy Kanana and her older sister Yvonne Gacheri were playing outside their home, following which the former felt sleepy and went inside the house, local media reported. She was, however, was unaware there was a snake in the poorly-lit room.

When the girl walked into the room, the seven-foot snake sprang on to her, biting her below the elbow on her left hand.

Gacheri told the Standard that Kanana ran out of the room, crying that a snake had bitten her. The mother of the children, who was tilling her farm, heard the screams and rushed to her daughters.

Cyprian Munanu, Kanana's uncle, told local media that the snake, which was identified as a cobra, and its eggs were found inside the house by Jane, the girl's mother. The snake was then killed by Jane and her husband. It wasn't clear what happened to the cobra eggs.

The woman picked her daughter and rushed her to a local hospital. The girl died before doctors could attend to her.

“Though she was unconscious by the time they reached the hospital, we do not know at what point she was overwhelmed. Our little girl’s body is at the mortuary. Her sister and parents are very distraught,” Munanu reportedly said.

According to Meru County Health Chief Officer Misheck Mutuma and Dr. Kellen Mumbi, the in-charge at Kangeta Health Centre, the child was already dead by the time she reached the facility.

“We examined her, she had wounds on her body. We requested for an ambulance and took her body to the Nyambene Level Four Hospital,” Mumbi said, adding an autopsy has been conducted to find the exact cause of death.