In a tragic incident, a three-year-old girl in Brazil died after a scorpion crawled into her bed and stung her as she slept, the New York Post reported. As per the outlet, Maria Fernanda Brito da Silva suffered a cardiac arrest while being treated at a hospital in Campo Grande.

The incident happened on September 25 when the little girl was sleeping at her home in Ribas do Rio Pardo, Brazil. As she slept, the spider crawled under her clothes and stung her in her sleep. Feeling a sharp sting, the girl immediately woke up and her cries quickly alerted her mother who ran to her room.

She was rushed to the Hospital Regional de Mato Grosso do Sul in Campo Grande, Brazil, where she was treated with antivenom antibody therapy. However, the girl died in an intensive care unit on October 1, six days after she was stung.

”It is with immeasurable sadness and regret that the City of Ribas do Rio Pardo, through the Municipal Health Department (Sesau), announces that the child Maria Fernanda Brito da Silva died this Sunday morning,” Ribas do Rio Pardo city officials said in a statement last week.

The girl’s mother said she was left horrified when she found the scorpion attacking her daughter. Describing the incident toPrimeira Pagina, she said, ”The image will stay in my head forever.  She sat on the bed, turned around, and saw the scorpion stuck to her back. It wasn’t a small scorpion, it was a big scorpion. I hit her and she, even though she was in pain, raised her little finger and showed that the scorpion ended up on my shirt. I hit my hand, threw it on the ground, and killed it.”

After killing the scorpion, she rushed outside to seek help, as Maria started vomiting.  A neighbour then rushed them to the hospital.

According to the health department date, more than 3,000 scorpion-related cases have been reported this year in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.

In a similar incident last year, a seven-year-old boy from Brazil suffered seven heart attacks after he was stung by a Brazilian yellow scorpion while he was putting on his shoes. Furtado Barbosa died on October 25 in a hospital, two days after he was bitten by the yellow Scorpion also known as Tityus Serrulatus- a species with toxic venom, reported The Independent.