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-run hospital, recalled on Saturday how she was attacked by a giant crocodile on Friday evening while washing utensils in a creek near her house.
“The creek where I was washing utensils never had crocodiles in it. None of us had ever sighted the reptile in the past. The attack was so sudden that initially I had little time to react. But later, an aluminium cooking pot and spatula that I had brought from home for washing saved me from certain death,” Samal said.
“It was a miraculous escape. The reptile pounced on me and began dragging me into the water. I was about to be completely submerged when I somehow managed to get my wits about me and fought back with whatever I could lay my hands on. I hit the crocodile on its head and eye with the cooking pot and the spatula. It worked!! The reptile slowly released me. I acted at the spur of moment as I had taken it for granted that the reptile would devour me,” she recalled.
The latest crocodile attack occurred outside the national park limits. The state forest department would bear the cost of treatment, Divisional Forest Officer, Rajnagar Mangrove (wildlife) forest division, Bimal Prasanna Acharya said.
Besides, the department would also award compensation to the injured person’s family as per revised rules, the official said.
Since past two months, man-crocodile conflict has reached alarming proportions in villages located on the periphery of the Bhitarkanika National Park. The crocs have claimed two lives while injuring at least seven others.
Forest personnel, however, opine that people are exposing themselves to attacks by venturing into crocodile-infested water bodies.