Girl Finds Venomous Snake Inside School Bag While Arranging Books, Escapes Unhurt

A venomous snake was found inside a school student’s bag in Malappuram, a city in the southern Indian state of Kerala Thursday morning.

The girl, identified as Aneesha Vallikadan, returned home from school Wednesday evening and went out to play after placing her bag in the bedroom. The following morning, she opened the bag to arrange books before leaving for school. Suddenly, the reptile came out of the bag and almost bit the girl, who miraculously escaped.

Speaking to local daily Mathrubhumi, Alavikutty Vallikadan, the girl’s father said, “I think the snake which strayed into the house got into the bag.”

The father added that as soon as he heard about the incident, he rushed to his daughter’s school and discussed the matter with the authorities.

“There is no snake threat on the school campus,” he said. Details regarding the species of the snake and what happened to it after it came out of the bag were not known.

The incident comes less than a month after a 10-year-old girl died after she was bitten by a snake in her classroom in the same state. The girl, identified as Shehla Sherin, informed the teacher as soon as she was bitten by the reptile. However, the teacher allegedly did not believe her and said the injury came from a nail. Soon the student’s leg began to discolor and her classmates begged the school authorities to take her to the hospital. However, instead of taking Sherin to the hospital, the teacher insisted that they wait for the victim’s father to arrive and take her to the hospital. By the time the father reached the school and rushed her to a private hospital, the girl succumbed to the snakebite. The news sparked outrage following which the teacher was suspended.