After a ten-minute-long fierce battle with a full-grown crocodile, a man finally managed to save his life from the mighty jaws of the reptile.
The man, identified as Babrubahan Bhuyan of Nimapur village of Pattamundai block in Kendrapara district, narrated his encounter with the creature, which is enough to give goosebumps.
It was 3.40 am on Saturday. Like any other day, Bhuyan woke up and went to the Brahmani river to attend nature’s call and take a bath. Unknown about the danger in store for him, he entered the water and experienced the shock of his lifetime.
He found his leg in the jaws of a huge crocodile. It didn’t take much time for him to realize that he is not long for this world. At the same time, he thought on his feet to give it a last try.
The fight between Bhuyan and the crocodile lasted for 15 minutes. At the last moment, he reached out to a nearby bamboo pole of the safety net put up by the forest department, grasped it tightly and managed to come onto the ground. By then, he had already sustained bloody wounds.
“It was when I felt pain in my leg that I kicked it and got myself free from its jaws,” narrated Bhuyan, who is undergoing treatment at Kendrapara district headquarters hospital (DHH).
The incident of crocodile attack is not new in this part of the district. But, the villagers generally hold the forest department responsible for the man-animal conflicts.
The forest department had put up a safety net in the river to save people from crocodile attacks. In the last flood, the safety net was damaged and the department has not repaired the damaged net.
“We had visited the DFO office and took the matter up with the officer. He had assured us to repair the damaged net. Nothing has been done,” rued Jashobanta Sethi, a Nimapur resident.
When contacted Rajnagar ranger Chittaranjan Beura over his phone, he said, “Since the water level in the river has increased, a crocodile can easily swim over the net.”
The recent man-crocodile conflict is said to be the fifth such incident in the past two months in Pattamundai area.