Two people have been killed after an army of venomous spiders invaded a town in India. Scientists still do not know too much about the spiders, where they came from or how they can be controlled. The town of Sadiya was invaded by the spiders in May in the middle of a Hindu festival. According to witnesses, the spiders latched onto and bit anything that would move or breathe.
The doctors in the region are working to determine what type of venom the spiders emit when they bite. The only thing that is known is the fact that they killed two people, a man named Purnakanta Buragohain, and an unidentified boy. The spiders also injured others during the invasion. Jintu Gogoi, a resident of the town, said he was in the hospital because of nausea and extreme pain after a minor bite on the finger. Residents of the town said that the spiders were very aggressive and they invaded the town in waves, wreaking havoc on all.
“It leaps at anything that comes close. Some of the victims claimed the spider latched on to them after biting,” Dibrugarh University Dr. L.R. Saikia said. “If that is so, it needs to be dealt with carefully. The chelicerae and fangs of this critter are quite powerful.”
Despite the health risks of the insecticide DDT, authorities from Sadiya considered spraying the town with it because of the invasion. Right now there is only speculation about the spiders, with experts believing them to be black wishbones, funnel-web spiders or tarantulas. Experts also believe that the spiders are not native to the area.