12-foot snake kills 7-year-old girl washing dishes at Cotabato riverside

KORONADAL CITY—A seven-year-old girl was killed after a banakon, or a King Cobra, bit her beside a river where she was washing dishes around noontime on Monday.

May Claire Ayog succumbed to the snake bite and was declared dead on arrival at the hospital in Banga, South Cotabato.

Mercedita Mariano said that the serpent bit the hand of her niece and tried to attack another relative, but the latter ran to a nearby shanty to evade the huge snake.

A man who was gathering firewood nearby was also attacked but responding residents killed the serpent before it could threaten the community.

SPO2 Gilda Forro, chief of the Women and Children's Protection Desk of the Banga PNP, confirmed the incident and that the victim no longer reached the hospital alive.

She said the remains of the 12-foot snake is being preserved and is becoming an attraction at the police station. -NB, GMA News