POST-COURIER (Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea) 13 March 06 Man foils croc attack
A man fought a three-meter crocodile bare-handed, saving his wife from the beast’s grasps.
The real-life Tarzan-versus-beast incident happened on Fergusson Island, Milne Bay Province three weeks ago, when the reptile snuck up behind the woman, who was washing clothes and knocked her senseless into the river.
Villagers in the Galeya area of East Fergusson are stunned over the incident, which happened at Awapoi River.
The husband of the victim Ilaitia Bwasiemu told the Post-Courier from Alotau that they had returned from their garden and stopped over at the river to wash.
After washing, he and their son, four-year-old Kingsley, waited on the bank of the river while his wife, Oliso, went to a shallow part of the river to wash their clothes.
He said this was when the crocodile snuck up from behind and knocked her with its front paws.
The intensity of the blow knocked the woman further into the deeper part of the river.
As she fell, she screamed for help, bringing her husband leaping to her aid.
“When I turned, I saw her splash into the water with the crocodile on top of her. She was facing upward and the crocodile pushing her down trying to drown her,” Mr Bwasiemu, who is chairman of a local primary school, said.
He said he wrestled the crocodile and managed to get his arm around the beast’s neck. Then pulling its head out of the water, he drove a fist to its head between the eyes.
The blow, he said, somewhat stunned the crocodile enough to relax its grip on his wife.
He also broke his arm in the process.
He said he quickly grabbed his wife and dragged her onto the river bank. The crocodile stared at them for a while and then turned and swam away.
The couple was rushed to Budoya sub health centre, about three hours by motorised boat, where the woman was treated for the bruises and cuts that the crocodile had inflicted on her body.
She had suffered lacerations to her upper torso.
She was then referred to Alotau General Hospital on the mainland, where further tests found she had also suffered a broken collarbone when the crocodile hit her.
She was treated for the injury and was released from the hospital last week.
Mr Bwasiemu said he believed the same crocodile had killed a dog and eaten it earlier that day in the village.
He called on authorities in the province to launch a hunt to eliminate the crocodile, warning lives could be at risk.
Man foils croc attack