Tiki Dalai a six-year-old girl from Bankuala village in Kendrapada district, displayed exemplary courage and saved her friend Basanti Dalai from a furious crocodile attack.
Both the girls were bathing in the village pond when a crocodile suddenly leaped from the water and attacked Basanti. Tiki picking up a bamboo stick kept hitting the mammal’s head, that had gripped Basanti in its jaws. When Tiki jolted the animal, it left the girl and slipped back into the water. “The attack was very sudden. A stick was lying near the pond “, Tiki, narrated. “I acted on the spur of the moment. I had taken it for granted that the animal would kill my friend,” she added.
The crocodile attack occurred outside the Bitarakanika national park limits. The State forest department has declared to bear the cost of treatment of the injured. Besides, the department would also award compensation sum to the injured person’s family as per revised rules, said DFO Bimal Acharya.
The survivor Basanti Dalai is a standard one student of a Government-run school in Bankuala village. She was undergoing treatment.
While recalling the harrowing experience, Basanti thanked her friend and schoolmate Tiki.
The victim sustained multiple wounds on her hand and thigh. The Chief Medical Officer stated the victim was out of danger.
Sociopolitical leader and Chairman of SNSMT Suparno Satpathy has urged the DM of Kendrapada, the Chief Minister, the PM and the President for a national bravery award for little Tiki.