In a tragic incident, a farmer in Dangs district swam across Khapri river for 90 minutes to take his eight-year-old son. who was bitten by a snake, to the hospital. Ironically, Khapri river which is dry most of the year and takes 10 minutes to cross on foot, had swollen due to the recent rain. And because of the strong current, the father took an hour and a half to cross it. However, by the time they reached the hospital, the doctors were unable to save the young boy as had succumbed to his injuries.

The boy was identified as Rohit Panwar, son of a farmer in Gujarat. On Monday, while Rohit was asleep the family members saw snake bite marks on his leg, which is when they raised an alarm and villagers called 108 ambulance services. The ambulance was ready across the river in Pimpri Village. Due to unavailability of boats to cross the river, father Mohan used an inflated tyre for his son and began swimming to reach the nearest Ahwa Civil hospital.

Mohan told Indian Express, "I put my son on an inflated autorickshaw tyre and swam across the Khapri river to reach other bank. I somehow reached the other bank and tried to wake my son, but he did not respond. I thought he might have lost consciousness. The ambulance immediately drove us to the hospital where doctors examined and declared my son as dead as it was too late."

Dr Rashmiikant Kokni, CMO of Ahwa Civil hospital, said, "The boy reached the hospital at 2:30 am and was not responding. We immediately gave him anti-venom medicine through intravenous infusion and later artificial respiration, but all our efforts were in vain. We found that the venom was neurotoxic, usually found in cobras." The doctor also said that because he was bought to the hospital late, his intra-organ failure had started.

The district collector B Kumar said, "This is the first such incident of death due to snake bite. During monsoon, it becomes difficult for villagers to reach Pimpri or Ahwa for any kind of work." According to the National Crimes Records Bureau in 2015 alone 8554 people died due to snake bite.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 25, 2018 04:29 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).