A 37-year-old woman from Singiri village under Rajkanika police station limits has shown exemplary courage in staving off an attacking crocodile.
Sabitri Samal, a housewife, who is currently undergoing treatment at a government hospital, recalled from her hospital bed how she was attacked by a giant crocodile on Friday while washing utensils in a creek near her house.
“The creek where I was washing utensils was never intruded by crocodiles. None of us had sighted the reptile in the past. The attack was so sudden that I had little time to react. An aluminium cooking bowl and cooking stick that I had brought from home to wash saved me from death,” Samal said.
“It was a miraculous escape. The reptile pounced on me and dragged me to water. I was about to be completely dragged into the water when I hit the croc on its forehead and eye. The animal slowly released me. I acted in the spur of moment as I had taken it for granted that the animal would devour me,” she recalled.
The latest crocodile attack occurred outside the national park limits.
The forest department would bear the cost of treatment, Divisional Forest Officer, Rajnagar Mangrove (wildlife) forest division, Bimal Prasanna Acharya said.
Besides, the department would award compensation to the injured person’s family as per the revised rules, the official said.
