Goa, Aug. 2 -- In a heart-wrenching incident that underscores the ongoing infrastructure crisis in Odisha's remote tribal regions, a young girl carried her snake-bitten mother for over five kilometres through dense forest-only to lose her in the end due to delayed medical care.

The tragedy unfolded late Friday night in Dumeripada, a secluded village under Mundigada panchayat in Tumudibandh block, Kandhamal district. Balamadu Majhi was asleep in her home when a venomous snake bit her. Her family immediately called the 108 ambulance service. But the vehicle could only make it as far as Saramundi, around eight kilometres away, stopped by the absence of a motorable road.

With no alternative and time slipping away, her daughter, Rajani Majhi...