Child dies of scorpion bite in India after tantra used as cure

A scorpion bit a young boy in a village of India which resulted in the child’s death due to reliance on excorcism to cure the afflicted.

The 14-year-old was taken to a Tantric (occultist/exorcist) by the parents in Bihar’s Kaimur region after he told them that a scorpion had stung him.

Doctors said that the child could have survived if he had been brought to the hospital immediately.

Sri Lanka’s customs in January arrested a 30-year-old Chinese passenger accused of trying to take 200 venomous scorpions out of the country in his checked-in luggage.

The man was suspected of trying to get the scorpions back to China to extract the venom, officials said.

The live arachnids were discovered by security officials at Colombo international airport in plastic containers packed in the man’s luggage that was to be checked in.