Woman dies from cobra bite on New Year’s Day

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A 34-year-old woman died within three hours after being bitten by a seven-foot cobra along a river in Kulaman Valley in Arakan, Cotabato on New Year’s Day.

According to the Arakan municipal disaster risk reduction and management office, Jenisa Mandi was celebrating the New Year with friends, picnicking at a downstream stretch of the river when the cobra bit her in the leg.

Town officials said Mandi was a visitor from Barangay Binoongan in Kitaotao, Bukidnon and was spending time with her friends in Kulaman Valley.

Barangay officials said Mandi’s friends killed the cobra with stones.

They said Mandi was rushed to a medical dispensary, where she died after three hours.