S’pore student bitten by snake at school camp

Yahoo! Newsroom – Fri, Nov 4, 2011



It was sharp pain at first, followed by a burning sensation.

On Sunday morning, secondary two student Andrick Kok was waiting for the school bus to go home after a three-day leadership camp held by his school.

Instead, the 14-year-old Mayflower Secondary student ended up in the observation ward of the National University Hospital (NUH) after he was bitten by a snake – believed to be a baby cobra.

“I was one of the last few groups to leave the camp, and I was relieved to be going home. Then I felt a sharp pain searing through my left leg, like a burning sensation,” he told The New Paper.

Kok was one of 130 students from his secondary school who had just completed a three-day Student Leadership camp at Jalan Bahtera Camp, a Ministry of Education (MOE) Adventure Centre in Lim Chu Kang.

He was wearing flip-flops at the time and was waiting for the bus on the tarmac road when he was bitten, he recounted.

“It was angry – it sort of glared at me, hissed and then slithered away quickly,” said Kok, adding that the snake only let go after he shook his foot vigorously.

Although the species was unconfirmed, instructors at the camp believed that the 20 to 25cm long snake was a baby cobra, said the boy’s mother and sales support executive Kalvia Kok, 41.

An instructor at the camp site had then rushed him to the sick bay area where a tourniquet was tied over the student’s left leg to prevent poison from spreading. He was then rushed to the nearest hospital, NUH, which took them half an hour to reach.

“It was a long journey. The instructor tried to calm me down. ‘Just relax, don’t think about it’,” said Kok.

“I was nervous. I was afraid for my life, and that my leg would be amputated if the wound was bad.”

At the hospital, a blood test was done and he was given antibiotics to combat infection. While the swelling had not gone down, doctors told his parents that it was still “localised”.

Test results showed that the bite was poisonous but Kok was not given any anti-venom due to his allergies. At that time, the pain was still concentrated around his left heel, extending up to his groin. On Sunday night, he also vomited twice.

By Monday, he had passed the recommended 24-hour observation period without displaying major symptoms. When asked to describe the pain on a scale of 10, he replied, “Four.”

But on Thursday, his mother said that a badly damaged tissue in his toe had been removed and it was sent for a culture test, the same paper reported.

These coming two days, she said, are crucial to ascertain if her son is recovering or requires further surgery. In the worst-case scenario, doctors told her that his toe could be amputated.

On the other hand, a staff member at High Achievers, which had organized the camp, said they had delivered necessary reports to both Mayflower Secondary and MOE.

The school’s vice-principal Mark Chan highlighted that safety briefings are also held for all students and teachers before and during each camp activity. He added that clear camp guidelines are provided as well.

“I just hope people will take precautions next time – it was a road and not grassy at all, so that a snake was there was unexpected,” said Kok’s mother.