A 60-year-old man identified as Luciano Lotwok died after being bitten by a snake in Ifune village in Imotong Payam of Ikotos County in Eastern Equatoria State on Monday.
Dominic Onyu, an SPLM party legislator in the state parliament who is a nephew of the deceased, told Radio Tamazuj Tuesday that the incident occurred when Lotwok who happens to be the traditional landlord of Ifose Boma was returning home from performing rituals to bless the land for farming.
“My uncle is the landlord and at the start of the farming season they have traditional rituals so he went with the youth to bless the land,” he explained. “When they were returning home, he stepped on a snake in some grass near the village and it bit him. He was rushed to the village but died immediately at 11 am on Monday.”
“Snake bites are common in the village and he is now the eighth person who has been bitten in the last couple of years,” Onyu added.
He revealed that a young boy who was also recently bitten by a snake is in critical condition and receiving treatment at Katire health center.
“A young boy was clearing a cassava field in Logele village and when he was collecting the weeds, a snake bit his hand,” he said.
For his part, Lodai Karlo, the in-charge at Ikotos Primary Health Care Centre, confirmed that cases of snake bites are common in the area and he urged people to rush cases to health facilities.
“The cases normally happen and we tell people that if someone is bitten by a snake, they should immediately rush them to the health facility,” he said. “Sometimes snake bite victims go into shock but if the person is rushed to the hospital, we give some medication that neutralizes the reaction of the poison. The only problem is that sometimes we do not have anti-venoms.”