'My sons slept beside me, now one is gone': 8-yr-old Thrissur snakebite victim's father recounts tragic incident

It was a routine for Siljo, a daily wage worker from Mattathur in Thrissur, to sleep with his children on the drawing room floor at night during the summer heat. On Saturday, the family followed the same practice—unaware of the tragedy that would unfold hours later.

By dawn, panic had set in as both his sons began complaining of severe discomfort. Not knowing they had been bitten by a snake, Siljo gathered them close and rushed through the dark on his two-wheeler, hoping to save them. But the journey ended in heartbreak—eight-year-old Aljo did not survive.

“I slept just a few feet away from my children, on the same floor, but only they…” Siljo said, breaking down. “We usually spread a bedsheet, place a pillow over it and sleep in the drawing room because of the heat. There were two fans—Aljo and his elder brother Anosh slept under one, while my wife Johnsy and I slept under the other.”

Around 2 am, Sunday, the boys woke up feeling uneasy. “We initially thought it might be because of sleeping on the cool floor,” he recalled. The children were moved to a bed, but soon complained of stomach pain. Suspecting food-related discomfort after a church function earlier that day, the family gave them cumin water and again went to sleep.

However, by 4.30 am, their condition worsened. “They were conscious, but Aljo’s lips began turning blue. We immediately decided to take them to the hospital,” Siljo said. He placed Aljo in front on his two-wheeler, asking him to hold on, while his wife and Anosh sat behind.

Finding no doctors available at the Taluk Hospital in Chalakudy, they headed to a nearby St John's Hospital. An ambulance was arranged midway, but Aljo succumbed around 6.30 am at the hospital. As Anosh’s condition deteriorated, he was shifted to the Apollo Hospital in Karukutty for advanced treatment.

The couple’s elder daughter, Angel, a Class 10 student, was at her maternal home in Vellikulangara at the time. “She usually sleeps with us on the floor. She was brought to the hospital in the morning,” Siljo said.

Doctors initially suspected poisoning and advised the family to check the house. When Siljo and neighbours returned and lifted the bedsheet, a snake fell out. “We killed it immediately,” he said. The reptile was later identified as a banded krait.

“Aljo was bitten on his back and Anosh on his leg,” Siljo added. Anosh remains in critical condition with his lungs infected. He had also undergone surgery.

After inquest procedures, Aljo’s postmortem was conducted at the Government Medical College Hospital, Thrissur. His body has been kept at a private hospital mortuary, and the funeral is scheduled for Monday at 3 pm. He was a Class 2 student of ALP School, Kadambode.

The Vellikulangara police have registered a case of unnatural death under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) into the incident.