An Indian woman has died from suffocation after being buried under cow dung by a snake charmer in a bid to heal her from a snake bite she had earlier suffered.

The victim is identified as Devendri who got bitten on the hand by a snake while collecting firewood at her home in rural India.

After she got bitten, the 35-year-old woman ran home to tell her husband, Mukesh, and the pair decided to call a local snake charmer called Murarey, who suggested his bizarre treatment may succeed in sucking out the poison.

Villagers gathered around when the snake charmer had covered the woman in cow dung. The snake charmer sat beside the woman and chanted mantras but after 75 minutes she passed on.

The woman’s husband said: “My wife went out to get fire wood and when she was collecting the wood a snake bit her.

“We tried some medicines, a grinded powder, and tied a rope around her arm. But the snake charmer advised us to cover her in cow dung, so we did.

On the other side, the snake charmer said he was confident the process could treat the woman in the first place.

“I’m known in this area to treat animal bites. I think the snake was a cobra. And yes, she died because she was buried.”

Mukesh is now left to raise five children alone as his wife is gone.