By David Strege From Grind TV

Indonesian pop star Irma Bule, who routinely danced with snakes and used them as part of her performance, was fatally bitten by a king cobra after stepping on it while singing her second song.

The 29-year-old was performing at a village in Karawang, West Java, on Sunday night when the incident occurred, according to the Mirror, Coconuts Jakarta and other media outlets.

The king cobra, known as Rianti, bit the singer on the thigh, injecting venom into her bloodstream. But the singer refused an antidote from the snake handler and continued to sing, seemingly unaffected according to witnesses.

“The effects were felt 45 minutes after the bite,” witness Ferlando Octavion Auzura told Merdeka, according to Coconuts Jakarta. “She vomited, had seizures, and her body seized.”

Bule was taken to a nearby hospital where she was confirmed to have died.

Those who perform the musical genre of dangdut, which Bule did, often use gimmicks or props in their acts to stand out from the rest. Bule’s gimmick was using snakes such as pythons and boa constrictors. She would dance with them and carry them around through the crowd.

This time, the show’s organizers provided a king cobra for her to hold, Bule’s mother, Encum, told the Indonesian news site Si Momot, according to the Daily Mail.

“My daughter might not have known that the snake that was given to her for the show was a dangerous cobra,” Encum said. “She was told she could wear it, even though its mouth was not closed with duct tape.”

In previous shows, even the nonvenomous pythons and boa constrictors had their mouths taped for safety concerns.

Lydia Apririasari, from the Tulala Snake Research Center, told Rappler that dancing with snakes is very common in Indonesia, especially in villages.

Encum said that Bule had been using snakes as part of her singing act for the past three years. “They were her trademark,” she said.

Bule was married with three young children.

IMAGE: Ima Bule By Jean Paul Preciado

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