Snake caused panic at Limassol hospital

A POISONOUS blunt-nose viper entered the emergency department of Limassol General Hospital at around 2am on Sunday causing widespread panic and biting a patient, police said.

Head of the department, Petros Koureas told the state broadcaster on Monday he believed that someone had purposefully brought the snake to the hospital.

Patients in the waiting room were terrified. The blunt-nose viper is the only poisonous snake in Cyprus.

Koureas said that it was possible the snake had been taken to the hospital by a disgruntled member of public.

He said he believed the snake could not have made its way to the hospital on its own as the field opposite the emergency department had recently been cleared and was being used as a parking lot.

The viper bit a patient on the hand after the man attempted to kill it by stamping on its head. He was treated at the hospital and released. The snake was eventually caught and killed by other patients who were in the hospital at the time.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.