Tourist dies after being bitten at snake beauty show on holiday in Egypt – National
Johannesburg – A German tourist has died after being bitten by a snake that slithered down his pants while watching a show in Egypt with two other members of his family, German police said in a statement on Monday.
The 57-year-old suspect was attending a snake-shaped event at a beach hotel in Hurghada, on the Red Sea, when the incident occurred earlier this month.
The performance was part of an entertainment program at the hotel and involved two snakes, “possibly cobras,” police said, “some of which were placed around the necks of audience members,” authorities added.
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While he was playing the snake charmer, one of the snakes got into the man’s pants and bit him on the leg.
“He then showed clear signs of poisoning and needed resuscitation,” said a police statement.
He was taken to a local hospital, where he later died, it continued.
The investigation into the circumstances of his death is being carried out by the Memmingen Criminal Police Inspectorate under the supervision of the Memmingen Public Prosecutor’s Office, the police said.
Toxicological test results are pending.
The man, whose name has not been released by police, was from the Unteralgäu region of Bavaria in southeastern Germany and was on vacation with two family members, police said.
According to the World Health Organization, available information indicates that 4.5-5.4 million people are bitten by snakes every year. Of these, 1.8-2.7 million develop clinical illness, and 81,000 to 138,000 die from complications, it said.
The most vulnerable groups include rural agricultural workers, herders, fishermen, hunters, working children, people living in poorly constructed houses and those without easy access to education and health care, the organization’s website said.
In Canada, venomous snakes are rare, and bites are rare, with only one reported snakebite-related death in 2026, according to the online data platform World Population Review.
According to ScienceDirect and the Canadian Wildlife Federation, there are three species of venomous snakes endemic to Canada: the Western Rattlesnake, found in British Columbia’s Thompson Okanagan region; the Prairie Rattlesnake, found only in southwestern Saskatchewan and southern Alberta; and Eastern Massasauga, located only in Ontario on the east coast of Georgian Bay, north of the Bruce Peninsula, a small area on the Niagara Peninsula and in Windsor County.
In 2026 to date, India has the highest number of snakebite-related deaths, reporting 51,100 deaths, followed by Pakistan, Nigeria and Bangladesh.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
