Cobra bite kills Thai 'Snake Man'

A Thai man who held a world record for time spent with snakes has died after being bitten by one of his pet cobras. Boonreung Bauchan - known as the Snake Man - suffered a venomous bite in the elbow while he was showing villagers a deadly snake, a hospital doctor said.
He took herbal medicine and a shot of whiskey, and continued with the show until he collapsed, the doctor added.

By the time Mr Boonreung was taken to hospital, the poison had spread through his body. He won a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records after spending seven days in an enclosure with snakes in 1998. The 34-year-old from Thailand's north-eastern Si Sa Ket province was supporting his family with income from his snake shows, according to The Nation newspaper. It quoted his father as saying that boxes of pet snakes were still at the house. "They look fiercer now. So no one dares get closer to the boxes," he was quoted as saying.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3560901.stm