In a very depressing incident, a former Zimbabwe Independent newspaper senior office worker in Bulawayo, Peter Dube, succumbed to a black mamba bite while he was trying to fetch mangoes in his orchard for visitors during the festive season.
Dube’s tragic demise in Gwanda, Matabeleland South, has been attributed to the unavailability of antivenin at medical institutions within the province.
The black mamba is infamously considered as the world’s most venomous, dangerous, fastest and fatal snake.
Before the discovery and advent of black mamba antivenin, a bite, especially from this fearsome serpent was almost always fatal, usually within about 20 minutes. Antivenin is still not widely available in the rural parts of the mamba range, hence mamba-related deaths remain high.
Sources close to the deceased Dube’s family told News Hawks that as he reached for the mangoes, the snake struck him before he was rushed to the nearest clinic where there was no antivenin.
He was then rushed to a hospital, but unfortunately, there was no antivenin at the medical institution and Dube died minutes later.
The late media staffer worked for years at the private-owned Zimbabwe Independent’s Bulawayo office, but lived in Esigodini, located 40 kilometres on the southeastern side of Bulawayo during those years.
Zwnews
