I had to run, says man who fought crocodile for his life
KOTA KINABALU: Staring death in the face, a 40-year-old man had nothing on his mind but to do all he could to beat back a crocodile that was mauling him.
Speaking from his bed at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital here, Nursahim Nusiri remembered those precarious seconds: “Saya tidak tahu apa mahu fikir, saya cuma tahu mahu lari (I didn’t know what to think, I just knew I had to run).”
The father of one suffered broken ribs and punctured lungs during the attack in Pulau Banggi, off Kudat, at 9pm on Tuesday.
Nursahim, who returned home from Perak where he has been doing various jobs to celebrate Hari Raya Haji, said he had wanted to catch some fish for the festival.
“I went near the stilt houses in our water village in Karakit before I felt something attacking me,” he said.
“I looked down and I realised it was a crocodile!”
He immediately used his arms to battle the reptile which had its teeth on his upper torso before sticking his right hand into its jaws.
“I found something I could grab and pulled as hard as I could.
“The crocodile let go and I quickly swam away,” he said.
However, his nightmare did not end there as the crocodile retaliated and came after his leg, trying to pull him into the water.
“I used my other leg to keep kicking at it to force it to let go again,” said Nursahim.
Children playing not far away heard his screams and alerted some villagers who helped pull him to safety as the crocodile lingered nearby.
They ignored the reptile but told others to stay indoors before sending Nursahim to the Karakit clinic for treatment.
From there, he was sent to the Kudat Hospital with the aid of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency before being referred to the hospital.
He will be monitored for at least a week.
“The wounds are deep and the doctors told me they need to make sure that I am recovering well without infection,” he added.
Asked whether he would go down to sea again, Nursahim just smiled and shook his head.
His wife and five-year-old child are waiting for him at home in Kudat.
“We won’t be able to celebrate Hari Raya Haji this year but I guess it’s okay.
“I’m alive and that’s all that matters,” he said.
In May, a saltwater crocodile attack on a villager who was collecting cockles sparked fear among residents of the northernmost Banggi and Balambangan islands.
On March 20, a man and his 13-year-old son were believed killed by a crocodile in Kinabatangan.
Another man, Rudy Francis Angkanon, 35, who lost his right hand and right leg in a horrifying attack at a crocodile farm in Sandakan on Feb 20, put his story on video titled I Survived a Crocodile Attack.
In a recent report in The Star, the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) said crocodile sightings almost tripled last year compared with 2015. There were 33 sightings last year, 12 in 2015, and nine in 2014.
Perhilitan biodiversity conservation division director Dr Pazil Abdul Patah was quoted as saying that the increase in sightings could be due to the weather and habitat disruption.