The deadly spitting cobra was beheaded as the meat was being cleaned and prepared for soup.
However, when Chef Peng Fan reached for the head to throw it in the trash, it bit him.
The Daily Mirror reports police in the Guangdong Province in China said, "it is a highly unusual case, but it appears to be just an accident. He prepared the snake himself and was just unlucky."
“It was just a tragic accident."
A diner recalled, “we didn’t know what was happening but could hear screams coming from the kitchen.” “Only the anti-venom could have helped but this was not given in time,” a first responder noted.
A reptile expert told the paper it was “perfectly possible that the head remained alive and bit Peng's hand." It’s said the animals reflexes remain active up to an hour after its death.