While searching for a cat on the second storey of the Sembawang Drive Housing Board block, a 42-year-old woman was bitten by a python on Tuesday, October 9.
As per the victim, Chan Yin Ha, a store assistant, who lives in the HDB block was searching for her cats among a row of potted plants. But when she felt a sudden sharp pain in her leg, she thought that it was her cat, who scratched her. She looked down after kicking it off and found that it was a three-meter-long python.
The terrified woman stated that once she thought the snake would coil around her, so she immediately ran away from the location. As per the reports, Chan ran to her neighbours' place to seek help but, no one answered.
Even though her leg was bleeding, Chan returned to her third storey home and her family members helped her to wash her wounds and call for an ambulance. Meanwhile, the pest control tried to catch the python at Blk 470 Sembawang Drive. Singapore Civil Defence Force said that they were alerted to the incident after they received a call for assistance at around 4.04 am.
One of Chan's neighbours opened the door after her departure. When the neighbour found Chan's slippers and a trail of blood along the corridor, the police was asked to come in as the person suspected a fight.
Police followed the trail of blood, which led them to Chan's house and then they came to know about the python. As per the reports, police called the pest control agency but by that time the python retreated into a water pipe.
However, the officials from the agency poured hot water into the pipe and then the snake fled into a drain on the ground floor, where it was captured.
The victim was taken to the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, as she needed stitches. Chan was also placed under observation for few hours and later she was given four days medical leave for the recovery of the wound.
Chan stated that she spotted another snake in the drain on the ground floor of her block in 2016, even the store assistant also confirmed that the recent python sighting is not the first case when someone saw a snake in that area.
In Singapore, there are several cases of python sightings but most of them did not involve any kind of injury or harm to humans. But in Chan's case, she, unfortunately, went too close to the wild reptile that it attacked her.
As per many animal experts, snakes usually don't prefer bitting humans, as it is not their prey. But, most of the time such attacks take place because of the feeling of threatened and cornered.
