A South Coast construction worker yesterday described his encounter with a black mamba – the latest in a series of victims who have recently been confronted with venomous snakes in KwaZulu-Natal.
Scaffold erector Eric Bheyakhe Mazubane, 40, was bitten by a black mamba at the Sappi Saiccor paper mill in Umkomaas on Monday.
“I was on the second floor of the building and had just come back from my lunch break. My gloves were lying on the floor, and when I bent over to pick one of them up, the snake bit me. I did not even see it at first.”
The mamba struck swiftly, catching Mazubane on his left wrist before he realised what had happened.
“I felt something and then I saw I was bleeding. I was shocked and I told my colleague that I was bitten by a snake. Everyone was so confused.”
He was taken to the clinic on the premises before Netcare 911 paramedics treated him, and was then transported to St Augustine’s Hospital.
Netcare 911 spokesman Jeff Wicks said Mazubane’s co-workers had killed the mamba and taken it to the hospital.