KANOWIT: A 48-year-old woman was found dead, believed to have been bitten by a venomous snake, while foraging for river snails in Sungai Ulu Machan near Rh Rundang.
Kanowit police chief DSP Tega Bilong said the victim identified as Florence Galu went to look for river snails around 4 pm on Saturday (Sept 2).
However, she failed to return home that day, and her concerned family and longhouse residents launched a search the next day (Sept 3) around 7 am.
“After an exhaustive 13-hour search, they came across her lifeless body along the riverbanks at 8.15 pm.
“Investigations found that the cause of Florence’s untimely demise was a snakebite to her right wrist.
“There were no other suspicious marks on her,” Tega said.
A police report was only lodged by the deceased’s father around 6.20 pm yesterday (Sept 4).
Following that, a police team was deployed to conduct investigations and they had to travel more than two hours to reach the scene by both land and river routes.
Florence’s body was not taken to the hospital for a post-mortem due to certain factors.
Recently, a video of the incident went viral on social media and it showed a distinctive blackish-red mark on the deceased’s wrist.
