Deadly Snake Bites 11-Year-Old Girl Out Fishing, Victim Dead

An 11-year-old girl, who was bitten by a deadly snake, died after she allegedly failed to receive proper medical attention. The incident took place in a remote area of Papua New Guinea.

The young girl, identified only as Sogome, was reportedly fishing in the remote western province when she was bitten by a death adder snake Thursday. The family carried the girl on foot and travelled three to four hours to get her to Mogulu Health Centre for treatment. However, the delay in transportation led to the girl's death on the way to the hospital, news outlet EM TV reported.

After arriving at the hospital, health workers tried to resuscitate the girl, but failed. Her family members then took her body back to their village.

Sally Llyod, a long time missionary in the rural area, blamed the government and the lack of basic services for the death of the girl.

"If there was network and someone in the village to call for help, we could have sent a small aircraft and the three-hour journey from Habi would take less than 10 minutes. We need to aircraft and medical people on site all the time," Llyod said, according to EM TV.

Llyod added the family was in "total shock and exhaustion" as the girl's life could have been saved if she had received treatment at the right time.

"We often have such situations. Most like these are preventable, and sadly the solution is putting money into access health and education... Preventive measures and and first aid are our best defense right now." Llyod said.

There have been 20 snake bite cases reported in the area recently, but this was the first fatal incident, EM TV reported.

The day after the girl died, people in the area killed two death adders less than a mile away from the victim's home.

Death adders are native to Australia but are also found in other regions. They have triangular-shaped heads, short stout bodies and thin tails, according to the Australian Museum. They live in forests and woodlands, grasslands and heath.

These snakes feed mostly on frogs, lizards and birds. Due to their toxic venom and large fangs, 60% of death adder bites on humans led to deaths before anti-venom was introduced.