Player Dies from Snake Bite, Karl Berry: Australian Field Hockey Captain Bite by Venomous Western Brown, Collapses During Training Run

Reports confirm that Karl Berry, the captain of a popular Australian field hockey team, died after being bite by a venomous snake during training practice on Tuesday, April 23. Before embarking on a mile-long sprint, the 26-year-old athlete picked up a snake in order to carry it off the field. Turns out that the Western Brown reptile, one of Australia's most-venomous creatures, bite him in the finger unnoticed. Moments later Berry collapses while running - he passed away at the Royal Darwin Hospital just hours later.

Berry was working out with teammates on the hockey field at Marrara Stadium when the tragic incident occurred. The young captain of the Commerce-Pints Hockey Club in Darwin found the snake slithering around on the field, and figured it was a harmless baby python. Since the reptile was close to a group of children practicing their sport, Berry decided to pick it up and transfer it to a cluster of nearby bushes. Without Berry realizing it, the Western Brown snake ended up biting his finger.

Soon after Berry set off on a mile training run. Half-way through the sprint, he collapsed. The exercise quickly allowed the deadly venom to spread throughout his body.

Paramedics were quickly called to the scene, and once they arrived Berry was still conscious enough to tell them that he'd just picked up a snake. "He said he thought it was a python, which would not have been dangerous," St John Ambulance operations manager Craig Garraway told the Northern Territory News. "He was quite unwell at this stage When the paramedics looked at his hand they saw the bite mark on his finger... The bite was more consistent with a bite from a poisonous species."

Berry was rushed to the Royal Darwin Hospital and listed in critical condition - he died just hours later.

Darwin snake catcher and expert Chris Peberty explains to ABC that a Western Brown bite is dangerous because it doesn't inflict any pain -"Then, within hours, you are looking at a lack of co-ordination and dilated pupils... After that you go into the risk of systemic effects, which start affecting your heart, your lungs and your respiratory system."

Thoughts and condolences go out to Berry's family, friends, and teammates during this time of loss.