Australian man bitten by venomous snake twice in 3 days
A man working to clear trees and shrubs in the Australian Outback was bitten by venomous snakes twice in three days.
On Friday, the 18-year-old man was bitten on his right leg by an unidentified snake while using a chain saw in a field in Queensland state near the township of Capella, the RACQ Rescue helicopter service in Mackay said in a statement Monday.
After treatment, he returned to work in the same field and was bitten on his left arm by a brown-colored snake Sunday.
A helicopter with a doctor and paramedic aboard flew him 300 kilometers (200 miles) back to Mackay Base Hospital for treatment of the second bite, the statement said.
"This incredibly unlucky fellow wasn't very talkative as he was in a great deal pain when we arrived at the hospital" on Sunday, the statement said.
The man was almost certainly bitten by different snakes, said Claudia Corrigan, a snake expert from Canberra Reptile Zoo.
Both likely were eastern brown snakes, also known as the common brown snake, which is world's second-most-venomous land snake after Australia's inland taipan, Corrigan said.
© 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
