BAHAWALNAGAR: A youth died from snakebite here on Thursday.

Twenty-two years old Muhammad Ramzan of village Muhammadpur Sansaran worked in a factory in Lahore and had come home on leave. Three days ago, when he went to sleep, a six-metre-long cobra that was already on his bed bit him on the face.

Ramzan was rushed to the rural health centre where due to the lack of snake antivenom vaccine, he was shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital, Bahawalnagar.

However, after struggling for his life for two days at the DHQ, he died on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a Rescue 1122 team responded to an emergency call and caught a four-metre long snake from a house in Chishtian.

Rescue 1122 spokesperson told Dawn that upon receiving the emergency call from a family residing in an official residence on the premises of Chishtian sessions court, an animal rescue team was dispatched.

After a two-hour long operation, the team caught a black cobra and killed it.

Rescue officials said they had no arrangements to keep snakes or other dangerous reptiles, so they would kill them after catching them. They said that wildlife or other animal protection departments had never contacted them to receive these reptiles.

District Wildlife Officer Nazar Abbas did not attend the calls.

In another incident, the man who was injured in a roof collapse incident four days ago in Minchinabad succumbed to his injuries.

Sixty-year-old Ghulam Ali of village Nathana suffered critical injuries when the roof of his house collapsed on July 20 after a heavy rain. The injured Ali was being treated at the DHQ hospital. However, he could not survive and breathed his last on Thursday.

BODY FOUND: The body of a minor seminary student, who drowned in the Sutlej River two days ago, has been found. Rescue 1122 officials said that eight-year-old Nasir slipped and fell into the river while returning home from his madressah on July 22.

After two days of tireless efforts, Rescue 1122 recovered the child’s body several kilometers from the site.

On the other hand, the deceased’s family and locals held a protest against the administration for not making proper safety arrangements at the river banks, leading to deaths by drowning.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2025