A 6-year-old girl oscillated between life and death for two hours when a cobra wrapped itself around her neck. Though the deadly reptile later bit her arm, the child miraculously survived.

The incident happened in the Indian state of Maharashtra on Sept. 12, reported NDTV. On Wednesday, the child was declared to be out of danger.

The victim has been identified as Purvi Gadkari, hailing from the rural village of Wardha. A video of the incident, currently making rounds on social media, shows the terrified little girl lying on a mattress on the floor of her house.

The harrowing footage shows the cobra wrapped tightly around the girl's neck. The hood of the snake is seen fully spread behind her back.

According to reports, Gadkari was asked to lie quietly not to provoke the reptile into biting her. In the video, the girl could be seen obeying the instruction and lying motionless while family members rushed to get a snake charmer.

The child reportedly managed to stay in the same position for close to two hours. Towards the end, the cobra looked like it was preparing to slither away when the panic-stricken child moved a bit, prompting the serpent to bite her arm.

The child was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital where she underwent treatment for four days. Though cobras deliver neurotoxins enough to kill 20 people in a single bite, the girl managed to survive. She will soon return home after being treated.

In a similar incident in Maharastra, two children were bitten by a cobra while sleeping inside their home last week. The children were asleep with their parents on the floor of their home when the reptile attacked them. Though both the children got bitten, the parents were unaware of it. They came to know about the incident only after the father felt something 'cold' slithering against his leg.

India accounts for the highest number of snakebite cases and deaths in the world, with figures indicating an average of 58,000 deaths a year.

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Cobra Pixabay
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