KHON KAEN — A 28-year-old man from Chiang Rai province died after being bitten by a cobra he had been filming himself playing with at a hotel in Khon Kaen’s Chum Phae district in the early hours of Thursday.
Police from Chum Phae Station in northeastern Thailand’s Khon Kaen province investigated the death of Suprachya Sangratcha, 28, whose body was found on a bed in a ground-floor hotel room in Chum Phae municipality after midnight.
The victim, originally from Village 16, Pa-o Don Chai subdistrict in Chiang Rai’s Mueang district, was found wearing a T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Investigators discovered bite marks resembling those from a venomous snake on his right upper arm.
There were no signs of struggle in the room, the door was locked from inside, and lights were left on. Near the entrance, police found a white cloth bag tied shut containing a live cobra.
Police Colonel Rakchart Ruengcharoen, chief of Chum Phae Police Station, said video clips found on the victim’s mobile phone showed him handling and playing with the cobra at close range. Investigators believe Suprachya died from the cobra bite while keeping the snake.
Medical staff from Chum Phae Hospital conducted a preliminary autopsy to confirm the cause of death.
Cobras are highly adaptable and can be found in urban communities across Thailand. The monocled cobra (N. kaouthia) is most frequently encountered, followed by the Siamese spitting cobra (N. siamensis) and the golden spitting cobra (N. samarensis).
Cobra venom contains powerful neurotoxins that can cause death, while spitting cobras can cause blindness if venom contacts the eyes. The danger of cobras has been illustrated since ancient times, including in Aesop’s fable “The Farmer and the Viper.”
In Thai politics, the term “cobra” is used to describe MPs who defect from their original parties to join opposing sides in exchange for benefit.
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