Mangaluru: A teenager’s presence of mind saved his sister from certain death after a venomous snake sank its fangs into her leg near their residence at Kokkada in Belthangady taluk, about 80km from here, on Sunday evening.

Raju, a dairy farmer, said his daughter Sharanya K R, 11, had gone to their neighbour’s house to deliver milk around 4.30pm Sunday. When she reached a drain about 200 metres from their house, she felt sharp reptile bite on her leg. On reaching home, she told her mother and brother about it.

Sharanya’s 16-year-old brother Nithin K R remembered his grandmother’s advice. With the help of his mother, he first made a tourniquet using paddy straws just above the bite marks on the leg and then sucked the blood out with his mouth. Raju said there were two fang marks on the leg.

Raju said he had gone to the dairy when the incident occurred and his brother Jagadeesh and nephew Yogeesh rushed Sharanya to a hospital in Nellyadi. However, as there was no stock of the required anti-venom, she was brought to a private hospital in Mangaluru where she was kept in the ICU for 24 hours. Sharanya has since recovered and has gone back to school.