Snake-Charmer Show Goes Fatally Awry for One Guest

A snake-charming performance in Egypt turned fatal for a German tourist after one of the creatures reportedly slithered into his pants and bit him, authorities say. CBS News and AFP report that the 57-year-old man was watching the show at a hotel in the Red Sea resort city of Hurghada earlier this month when the incident occurred, according to police in Germany's Bavaria state. Officers say two snakes, believed to be cobras, had been placed around audience members' necks, before one managed to slither up the man's trousers, where it bit his leg.

The man showed "clear symptoms of poisoning" and was resuscitated at the scene, but he later died at a local hospital. The victim, from Bavaria's Unterallgaeu district, had been on vacation with two relatives; his name hasn't been released. German police and prosecutors have opened an investigation and are awaiting toxicology results. Egyptian authorities told AFP they had no knowledge of the case. The World Health Organization estimates that millions suffer snakebites each year, with up to 138,000 deaths worldwide. CNN notes that triple that number end up with amputations or other long-term disabilities as a result of snakebites.