Story By:  Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency:  Newsflash

A four-year-old girl died after she was stung by a scorpion and her mum did not realise and put her back to bed, only for her to be stung a second time.

The tragic incident took place in Luiziania – a municipality of nearly 6,000 inhabitants in the south-eastern Brazilian state of Sao Paulo – on Sunday, 8th May, when little Noemi Vicente da Silva woke up and got out of bed complaining of pain in her hand.

Her grandma Roseli Rosa de Jesus said: “The scorpion stung her the first time. She [the mother] didn’t know what it was. She asked the girl if she wanted water, as she was used to giving her water. The girl said yes.”

The family only realised what had happened once Noemi was stung a second time.

Roseli said: “She [the mother] lifted the sheet and saw it was a scorpion.”

Noemi was promptly taken to a local emergency care unit, where she started convulsing and was administered serum.

She was then transferred to the emergency department in nearby Penapolis, but she went into cardiac arrest and sadly died.

Her grandmother said: “I wish it had been me in her place. It’s not easy to lose a granddaughter.”

Noemi was buried on Monday morning in Luiziania.

A 2018 report said deaths from scorpion stings were on the rise in Brazil as the predatory arachnids adapted to urban life.