Girl Carries Snake-Bitten Mother For 5km Due To Poor Roads, Fails To Save Her

In a heartbreaking incident, a girl was forced to carry her snake-bitten mother on her back and walk for five kilometres through a forest track due to lack of proper roads in Odisha's Kandhamal district on Friday. 

Despite the long and tedious walk, Rajani Majhi failed to save her mother, Balamadu Majhi, due to a delay in the medical treatment. 

Sources said the incident took place in the remote Dumeripada village of Mundigada panchayat under Tumudibandh block.

Balamadu Majhi, the sources said, was bitten by a snake when she was sleeping in her house on Friday night. The family immediately dialled the 108 ambulance service but the vehicle struggled to arrive in the absence of motorable roads. The ambulance could  only reach up to Saramundi - eight kilometres away from their village.

Being left with no option, Rajani carried her mother on her back and walked for five kilometres, through a rough jungle pathway to Saramundi. From there, she took a motorcycle for another three kilometres to reach the ambulance spot. 

Balamadu was first taken to Tumudibandh health facility and later shifted to Baliguda Sub-Divisional Hospital (SDH) where doctors declared her dead.

The woman's family and local villagers blamed the death on the lack of proper road connectivity and the delay in accessing emergency healthcare. The grieving family also recalled the moment when the children lost their father in a similar manner. Rajani Majhi has three brothers.

After the post-mortem, the family carried the body on a cot to their house. The incident has sparked outrage in the tribal community, and renewed calls for urgent infrastructure development in neglected tribal areas.

(With inputs from Dev Kumar Ghosh)