Saturday 27 April 2013

Player dies from snake bite: ‘Children were training nearby’

Player dies from snake bite: ‘Children were training nearby’, The player who died from a snake bite because he wanted to protect children from what he thought was a python was 26-year-old hockey captain Karl Berry. Karl Berry did not only feel responsible for his team but also for the children who were training close to him. “Commerce-Pints Hockey Club A-grade captain Karl Berry, 26, picked up what he thought was a python so he could remove it from the hockey complex because children were training nearby,” reported Australia’s NT News on April 26, 2013.

While Karl Berry was training on Wednesday at the Marrara Stadium in Darwin, Northern Territory, in Australia, he saw a snake on the grass of the stadium. Since children were training nearby, the hockey team captain picked up what he believed to be a python and took it safely away from the children.

After having removed the snake from the hockey complex, Karl Berry went on his two-kilometer (about 1.2 mile) run. “It is understood he later collapsed.”

By the time paramedics arrived, Karl Berry was still conscious and told the paramedics that he had removed a snake and had put it into the bushes.

"I think he thought it was a python," said St John Ambulance operations manager Craig Garraway to NT News.

While the paramedics examined Karl Berry and tried to figure out what had happened, they discovered a snake bite mark on his hand that was consistent with a snake bite from a venomous species; a juvenile brown snake.

Because of his two-kilometer run, the snake’s venom had already been pumped too much through Karl Berry's body and paramedics were unable to save him.

Karl Berry’s family, friends, and hockey community members are mourning the tragic loss of a much-beloved young man. In Karl Berry’s remembrance and honor, his hockey team will be playing at 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

And maybe on Saturday night, if the children listen carefully, they just might hear captain Karl Berry and the Little Prince.

“When you look at the sky at night, since I’ll be living on one of them, since I’ll be laughing on one of them, for you it’ll be as if all the stars are laughing. You’ll have stars that can laugh!”

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