- PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - An
8-year-old girl who had been found with a 10-foot pet Burmese python wrapped
around her neck has died, the Allegheny County coroner's office said early
on Saturday.
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- Amber Mountain had been declared brain dead late on Friday,
officials at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh said.
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- Amber's mother had found the girl with the snake around
her neck on the kitchen floor of the family's home in Irwin, Pennsylvania,
about 25 miles east of Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
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- The girl's mother managed to pry the constrictor from
her daughter's neck but paramedics said the child had stopped breathing
by the time they arrived. She never regained consciousness.
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- The snake, one of five owned by the family, had apparently
escaped from its tank, said Irwin Police Chief John Karasek early on Saturday.
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- The father has been described as a snake enthusiast.
Authorities discovered five exotic snakes and several lizards on the premises.
The python that killed Amber was kept in a tank in the parents' bedroom.
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- Karasek said he had asked the Westmoreland County District
Attorney's office to continue to help investigate the child's death.
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- Amber was breathing through a ventilator when she was
pronounced brain dead at about 11 p.m. She was pronounced dead about an
hour later. The coroner's office did not say whether the family had decided
to turn the ventilator off. An autopsy will be performed on Saturday.
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- On March 14, 1996, the Mountains lost another child.
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- In that case, Amber's father, Robert Mountain, said he
had accidentally rolled over on 3-month-old Brittany while the two were
sleeping. The coroner's office ruled that Brittany died of accidental asphyxiation.
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