Chinese man buys deadly snake online that bites him in ‘suicide attempt’
Bite from many-banded krait hospitalises man in incident media reports claim is an attempt to take his own life, although he later begs doctor to save him
A 25-year-old man is fighting for his life in eastern China after he was bitten by a venomous snake he bought online in what local media described as a suicide attempt.
The man, who lives in Hangzhou, was identified by his nickname Xiaoli by local newspaper Qianjiang Evening News. According to its report, he bought the metre-long many-banded krait snake online.
At around 5pm on Wednesday, he was bitten by the snake, then hours later dialled for emergency services to take him to the hospital.
The bite was portrayed by the newspaper and by news outlet Thepaper as an attempted suicide, each citing medical workers’ accounts of the man’s comments while being taken to hospital.
No official statements have been made by local authorities.