A venomous common krait has been rescued from a room in Shaheed Shamsuzzoha Hall of Rajshahi University (RU). Students who woke up and saw the snake on a mosquito net called the rescue organisation SWAN, which removed it.

The incident happened at 3am on the night of 4 September in Room 121 of the hall, and has caused panic among students.

University sources said pharmacy student Rabbi Reza woke in the middle of the night and saw a snake on his mosquito net. He told his roommates, who called SWAN, the university's snake rescue group. Its members came to the hall, rescued the snake and confirmed it was a venomous krait.

Sakil Ahmed, who lives in the same room, said they woke to find the snake on the net and called SWAN, who took it away. He said repeated complaints to the hall provost had brought no solution. The area around the hall is overgrown, snakes appear every few days and students must always be on guard. He urged the university administration to take effective steps quickly for students' safety, asking: "If the snake had bitten last night and a student had died, would the hall provost have taken responsibility?"

Hall provost Dr Md Al-Amin Sarkar said: "A student woke at night and saw a snake on the mosquito net. He told his roommate and the university's rescue team was called, and they took the snake away. The incident has caused panic among students."

He said carbolic acid had been used before to deter snakes and the surroundings of the hall cleaned, and the back of the hall was cleared by the administration only last week. The snake is thought to have entered from the back. "Good-quality netting will be fitted at the back of the hall and the drains cleaned again," he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.