A famous Indonesian snake handler has died after being bitten by a king cobra while demonstrating how to handle it safely.
Aji Rachmat Purwanto, whose age was not given, shot to prominence as the co-founder of the Sioux Indonesian Snake Foundation that organises snake rescues and also provides lessons with advice on handling snakes safely.
According to a press release sent out by the organisation, he was demonstrating how to deal with a live king cobra when it managed to bite him on 12th February.
He was immediately taken to the emergency ward of the local hospital in the city of Banjarmasin, in the Indonesian province of South Kalimantan, but after two days in the intensive care unit, he died.
He is the latest snake expert from Indonesia to suffer a similar fate of the 49-year-old Imam Rokhani from Trenggalek, East Java, who often performed dangerous stunts with his pet king cobra, was bitten when he tried to give it fresh water.
The massive 4.5-metre-long snake was often at the heart of his stunts in which he would kiss the cobra on his nose with the snake apparently appearing unconcerned.
Imam was taken to hospital by his brother but fell into a coma and died a short while later.