MONTREAL: The death of a child by any means is always gut-wrenching but Canadians yesterday struggled with a particularly gruesome case: two small boys killed in their sleep by a python.
The boys, brothers aged five and seven, were sleeping at a friend’s apartment Sunday night in the small town of Campbellton in eastern Canada when they were surprised by the snake.
It had escaped from a pet store that specialised in exotic animals and is located on the floor below the apartment.
Police said they believe the snake slithered out of its enclosure, got into the ventilation system and into the upstairs apartment, which belonged to the owner of the pet store.
Autopsies are pending but at this stage it is believed the boys were strangled. Reports said the snake was an African rock python, the biggest kind of snake in Africa, although police have yet to confirm this. AFP
