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EDMONTON SUN (Alberta) 14 December 05 Deadly Snake Plot Suspected
Bangkok, Thailand (AP): Thai police were hunting today for a man who allegedly killed his common-law wife with a poisonous snake in hopes of claiming compensation from an insurance company, officials said.
Nired Ngamdee, 49, owner of a construction company, conspired with a snake tamer to have Monrey Feungfoo bitten by a cobra and then gave her painkillers, rather than rushing her to a hospital, said police Maj.-Gen. Winai Thongsong.
After the incident, in November, 2004, he sought the equivalent of more than $230,000 Cdn from the Finanza Nationwide insurance company, Winai said.
Monrey, 50, was bitten by the snake as she walked to a restroom outside a hut where she was spending the night with Nired.
The suspect took her to a hospital in the northern province of Phitsanulok only after she fell into a coma. She was pronounced dead on arrival.
Suspicions were aroused at the insurance company, which filed a complaint with the police.
"After a long investigation we found that the suspect planned to use the snake to kill his wife to claim the insurance compensation," Winai said.
The record at Phitsanulok's Nernmaplang hospital shows about 20 people are bitten by cobras in the area each year but so far no patient has died since all arrive at the hospital promptly.

This story should have also appeared in the Bangkok Post. It was big news here. Snake bite treatment is generally very good here. I guess that they have plenty of practice.

Cheers,

Michael