ANXIOUS: Safudin (left), Safri’s wife and her two-year-old child waiting for news from the medical officers treating Safri.
SARIKEI: A man was attacked by a crocodile when he was tying up sago logs yesterday.
Four others who were with him were however spared.
Safri Kinai, 26, of Kampung Hilir Tambak in Pusa suffered a broken right leg and was also wounded on his right thigh and left leg.
According to his brother-in-law Safudin Sulaiman, 36, they were tying up the sago logs before letting them float on the water en-route to the market.
“The incident occurred around 10am near the cemetery of Kampung Tambak Pusa.
“We were focussing on our respective jobs whilst the victim was at the deeper part of the river, which is around four feet deep.
“The water was up to his waist. Suddenly the crocodile — black and all — sprung up from the depths and attacked Safri,” he recalled.
Believed to be about 12 feet long, he said the reptile dragged Safri about 16 feet away from the site he stood.
It was fortunate that two of them managed to pull Safri from the crocodile’s grasp, said Safudin when met at the Sarikei Hospital yesterday.
The crocodile finally released the victim after a struggle with the two men, he added.
Safri was whisked away to Pusa clinic which later referred him to Sarikei hospital as the injuries suffered by him were serious.
Safri is married with two children.
Safudin said the crocodile was the one always spotted at the river and riverbank.
“Based on my knowledge, this is the first time that a crocodile attacked a human at Sungai Rimbas.
“I hope the authorities will do something to stop such attack from happening again, especially to us who depend very much on the river as our source of living,” he added.
Safri’s wife and other family members were at the Sarikei hospital yesterday.