Vellore (Tamil Nadu): In a tragic incident highlighting how rural India is still devoid of basic facilities, a baby girl bitten by a snake lost her life as her parents could not reach the nearby hospital in time due to the lack of a pucca road in their village in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu.
Viji, a labourer, and his wife Priya, who live in Athimarathu Kollai village of Anaicut Taluk of the district were sleeping in front of their house along with their 18-month-old baby girl Danushka when a snake from the nearby forest entered the residential area.
The snake bit the child in her sleep. Hearing her cry, the parents woke up in shock seeing their child writhing in pain. They immediately rushed to the nearest government hospital in the Anaicut area for treatment. However, with no pucca roads, the couple had to walk over 10 kilometres and, as such, took a long time to reach the hospital. By then, the poison had spread all over the child's body and the doctors at the hospital declared her brought dead.
Upon receiving the information, the Anaicut police went to the spot and seized the child's body and sent it to the Adukkamparai government hospital for post-mortem and registered a case regarding the incident. After this, the mortuary vehicle dropped the child's body halfway without adequate facilities to take the child home after the post-mortem was completed.
Ironically, the deceased child's parents completed part of the journey back home on a two-wheeler and then walked around 10 km while carrying their lifeless child's body. The child, sources said, had died on its way to the hospital but the parents still kept on walking hoping against hope that their baby would make it through.
Visuals from the spot showed the mortuary vehicle dropping the parents halfway through. The mother crying while holding her dead baby in her arms, then set off on foot to complete the remaining journey home.
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