Lucy Devine
A woman is 'lucky to be alive' after she posed for photographs with a deadly sea creature.
Nurse Suzanne Parrish, from Sydney, was enjoying a holiday with her family when she picked up what she thought was a 'cute snake'.
Not realising the 'snake' was actually a venomous sea krait - capable of killing 10 adults with one bite - Suzanne smiled for the photos before holding the creature to her face.
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Sea kraits are snakes that live on reefs in the western Pacific oceans.
Despite its name, the creature actually spends most of its time on land, and while a sea krait bite can be hugely dangerous, the snakes are generally non-aggressive.
Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, Suzanne explained: "I learnt how venomous they were when we went to a local museum that had information regarding the snake and how venomous it was."
While the nurse posed for the photos back in 2017, she recently shared her story in a Facebook group for 'near-misses', explaining what had happened.
"I joined the [Facebook] group a bit ago for funny posts and realised I had something relatable to share," she added.
People were shook about the pictures, with some saying it was simply 'dumb luck' that Suzanne had managed to avoid a nasty bite - especially since she was handling the snake.
While others said they always follow the same rule as 'don't know, don't touch' when it comes to creatures they spot in the wild.
After hearing about Suzanne's lucky escape, wildlife veterinary nurse Belinda Donovan explained just how toxic a sea krait can be if it feels under threat.
"The sea krait that she actually picked up is known to be 10 times more toxic than that of a rattlesnake... they're fatal," Belinda told Yahoo News.
"They're not aggressive and are only known to attack when feeling threatened, but obviously being handled is one of those situations where a krait would feel that way."
Sadly, in 2018, British backpacker Harry Evans, 23, was killed by a black-banded sea krait which became entangled in a fishing net.
Harry was working on a fishing trawler near Groote Eylandt, in the Gulf of Carpenteria.
He tragically died before emergency services could reach him and was the second person believed to have died from a sea snake bite in Australia.
According to inquest issued after his death, Evans asked the trawler's first mate, Chad Hastings, 'will I be alright?' after he was bitten.
Hasting said he only learnt how venomous the snake was after Googling Evan's symptoms.