BRISBANE, Australia — A field hockey player bitten by a king brown snake in Australia ran over a mile before collapsing and dropping dead.

Karl Berry, 26, described as a talented hockey player from Australia's Northern Territory, was reportedly bitten when he picked the snake up to remove it from the Commerce-Pints Hockey Club complex in Darwin.

An ambulance spokesman told the Northern Territory News that Berry had thought the snake was a non-venomous python. 

When paramedics arrived, Berry was conscious and told them about the snake.

St John Ambulance operations manager Craig Garraway told the News:

"For 10 to 15 minutes we tried to figure out what he had been doing and he mentioned he had removed a snake and put it into bushes. I think he thought it was a python."

However, paramedics immediately suspected that the bite mark was more consistent with a bite from a venomous snake species.

According to the Fairfax website BrisbaneTimes.com, Garraway said Berry failed to mention he had been bitten by a snake until 15 minutes into his assessment. Worse, he said: 

"He had gone for a two-kilometre run which pumped the venom around his system much faster."

Fairfax cited Berry's father, Ian, as saying that his son was sports-mad and loved his work as a gas station manager.

His son was "outgoing and a leader," he said, adding when asked how he was coping:

"We'll get there. We've had better weeks."

He said the family was keeping his son's body on life support so that his organs could be donated.