HAZYVIEW – A man (42) miraculously escaped death after being attacked by a crocodile in a farm dam on Friday.
Mr Mario Ferreira is currently recuperating in Rob Ferreira Hospital in Nelspruit after he wrestled with the two-metre-long reptile. He and his son (16) were fishing from a canoe. According to Ms Gerty Greyling of Lifemed who treated Ferreira and transported him to hospital, he was reeling in the line when the crocodile grabbed it.
He fell off the canoe and the reptile grabbed him on his left hand, pulling him under the water. He somehow managed to free himself and swim to the shore. However, it would not give up its meal for the day so easily. The croc got hold of Ferreira
a second time, grabbing him by the legs.
According to Ferreira’s wife, Yolande, the reptile pulled him under the water numerous times and swirled him around as crocs do – tearing flesh off their prey. “I don’t know how he managed to get away from it. It was thanks to the grace of God and many prayers,” she said. The couple’s son wasn’t injured in the incident, but was severely traumatised. They rushed to a doctor in Hazyview and Lifemed was summoned to take Ferreira to hospital.
He lost a lot of blood and Greyling and her husband, Metrie, who is also a paramedic at Lifemed, rushed with him to Nelspruit.
Apart from a dislocated thumb, he didn’t sustain any fractures. He also sustained several deep lacerations to his legs which were stitched up.
Doctors were confident that he would make a full recovery. Lowvelder requested an interview with Ferreira who obviously had had a lucky escape, but his wife declined, saying he was very tired and had experienced quite a lot of discomfort.
Famous croc attack survivors in the Lowveld, including Mr Tom Yssel and Mr Christiaan Bakkes, can testify that it takes months, even years, to recover fully from the wounds suffered during a crocodile attack. The animal’s bite is extremely dirty and is known to cause severe infection.
• The newspaper reported last week about a man who died after having been attacked by a hippo, also on a farm in the Hazyview area. He was disembowelled during the attack and died at Rob Ferreira Hospital from his injuries. Mr Dries Pienaar of Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency, has since confirmed that the hippo was shot.
“The cow made herself at home in one of the dams used for irrigation and didn’t return to the river nearby. Farm workers in the area were too scared to return to work, fearing that they too might be attacked by the animal. It was decided it was in the best interest of everyone’s safety to shoot it.”
