DAILY MAIL (London, UK) 19 December 08 Teenager survives brush with deadly snake - thanks to his quick-thinking friends (Richard Shears)
A teenager has survived a bite from one of the world's most deadly snakes - with a little help from his friends.
Ryan Cole, 15, was bitten on the foot by a coastal taipan, the third most venomous snake in the world, when he jumped into a pool near the Burnett River in the town of Mundubbera, 300 miles north west of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia.
As he started convulsing and bleeding from his mouth, his brother and other friends who had dragged him from the pool cleared his mouth, wrapped a T-shirt around the bite to prevent the poison spreading and telephoned the emergency services.
He was rushed to hospital where nearly a litre of anti-venom was pumped into him to save him.
Incredibly, it was the second time Ryan had been bitten by a poisonous snake.
'I think I'm going to have to be a bit careful when I go into the bush in future,' he said.
Ryan was with his brother Jakob, 16, and friends Scott Smith, Lee Carson, Torren Wood and Josh Allen as they swam and played around the pool.
Ryan was alone in the water when he was attacked by the snake and was so weak within a few minutes that he couldn't pull himself out.
Then, as he started convulsing, he managed to cry out to his friends.
A group of workmen who had a four-wheel drive vehicle had to use it to drive Ryan up the steep river bank to an ambulance that had rushed to the scene.
Although the snake was not known at the time, hospital officials were able to identify the venom and began immediate treatment, without which Ryan would have almost certainly died.
But even then, the anti-venom had to be rushed by police car from hospitals more than 30 miles away.
'It was just terrible to see him,' said Ryan's father, Rob. 'His eyes were open but no-one was home - he just wasn't with us.'
After his immediate treatment, Ryan was flown to a hospital in Brisbane, where he spent the next three days in intensive care.
Ryan's friends had each completed a first-aid course at their school and, Mr Cole said, 'that's how they saved him. If not for them, he would have been gone.'
Ryan said he never even saw the deadly snake. 'I just felt a little twinge of pain. It didn't even seem to hurt that much.
'I looked down and there was nothing there. It was so quick. I yelled to my mates that something might have bit me. I remember trying to get out of the water but nothing after that.'
Ryan was bitten by a deadly eastern brown snake a year ago while riding his motor bike, but the snake did not inject venom.
Teenager survives brush with deadly snake

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• GBR Press: Teenager survives Taipan - W von Papineäu, Thu Dec 25 21:02:06 2008