CROC ATTACK FATAL, NO.
No, this one was not fatal, but to be frank this attack was damn near fatal. It is a real story of courage and friendship. The heroes were definitely that, and more.
Before we begin some thanks to FIELD ETHOS
The story involves one big deadly crocodile and some Game Rangers at Kruger National Park.
Tom Yssel was very happy to be a Game Ranger. This event happened many years ago, but I think it is interesting and a powerful reminder of what a man or woman is up against in a croc attack. Lessons to be learnt.
CROC ATTACK FATAL – KRUGER.
Kruger National Park was a dangerous place, even for Game Rangers.
I remember reading this story many years ago, back in 1976. I think it is one of the very best illustrations of what a real croc attack might be like.
We have the two main elements.
ONE. The presence of a dangerous crocodile, not a “Saltie,” but deadly nevertheless.
TWO. We have men in the water, or at the water’s edge.
This could easily lead to a croc attack fatal.
21 November 1976 is a day that Tom Yssel of the Kruger National Park will not forget. How could you?
For a start. there are the scars on his body. These scars are the badges of croc attack fatal, or close to it.
Of course, he is only alive due to the efforts of his two friends and colleagues, who risked their own lives to get him out of the jaws of the huge monster that held him. This is not something to forget either.
There are many moments in this saga that no normal person would forget, no matter how much they desired to possess a special loss of memory.
CROC ATTACK FATAL AND THE ALMOST FATALITY.
Sunday, the day is now well-advanced, and two friends, Tom and a very close mate, Louis Olivier, had made the decision to go and relax with a few of their colleagues and their families in the Sabie River at Skukuza.
Tom later said, “The water of the Sabie was clear and less than knee-deep when a few of us decided to walk over to an island in the middle of the river.”
It seems that all went well until the men began the return journey to the river bank.
The other people in the party were happily waiting for them. All seemed perfect for a holiday picnic.
Tom says that Frans Louber, who was the engineer, stopped at the water’s edge; he turned around and began talking to one of the men.
The next bit is best said in Tom’s own words.
“I was right behind him and the first to enter the water. With my third step it felt as though I had stepped into a giant snare as a set of teeth sank into the calf of my right leg and took my feet away from under me. I did not really experience much pain at that moment, only immense pressure on my leg…”
Later, Tom explained how he was dragged at considerable speed through the clear shallows, how his body banged on the river bed, and how the bulk of his torso and head stayed out of the water. This was a typical croc attack in that events moved fast, very fast, and almost at lightning speed.
This is how we find the horrible event known as croc attack fatal.
Tom goes on, “When I realized that the teeth clamped around my calf were those of a crocodile, I knew that I would have to do something to free myself very quickly. That was when I struck my fingers in the monster’s eyes. This made him change direction slightly and within seconds we were fifteen metres from the island at a hollow in the riverbank.”
One begins to get the idea of how tough this might be.
“Because the water was shallow and the crocodile had not been able to drag my head underwater, it drew to a halt for a few seconds, without easing its grip on my leg for a moment, apparently undecided about what to do with me.”
Tom was in diabolical trouble but he had great faith is his best mate, Louis. “I knew that my friend, Louis Olivier, would hasten to my rescue.”
His faith was not misplaced. There is nothing like a good friend.
It turns out that Louis Olivier had been up on the banks, going over his fishing-tackle, when he heard the first of Tom’s loud screams.
When Louis stood up he saw Tom throw his hands in the air. For one second he thought it was a silly joke, but then he saw Tom spin like a top, as the big crocodile renewed its offensive.
With a shock, Louis realized that this wasn’t a joke!
Later he told his story.
“I turned as cold as ice when the broad back of the crocodile suddenly appeared above the water, quickly swimming away with Tom between its jaws. The crocodile was enormous.”
Louis did not hesitate.
“I ran closer and tried to drive the crocodile away from the deep water to which it was making its way so that he could drown Tom, the way this animal usually does with its prey. I grabbed hold of the crocodile around its body, between the fore and hind legs, and with power from above, succeeded in forcing it off its course to the riverbank where we had been fishing only moments before.”
This was an act of pure bravery.
“I pulled out my pocket knife and dived into the water to approach the crocodile from underneath, where I tried to stab it in the stomach. With each attempt the blade of the knife snapped shut until I flung it away in pure frustration – this while the powerful brute was swimming away with us so quickly that the water roared my ears.”
Louis suddenly realized that he was not alone. Help had arrived.
“Hans Kolver, who was one of the Board’s pilots at the time, also jumped into the water and landed beside the crocodile’s head where Tom shouted at him to attack the monster’s eyes. Hans could not see me where I was busy under the water with the crocodile!”
This story gets harder, tougher, as relentless as the croc attack itself. The men begin to feel the mighty power of this big croc, begin to realize that this wouldn’t be easy.
“Each time Hans stuck his fingers into the crocodile’s eyes, it resumed its attack and shook Tom vehemently – so much so that the people on the riverbank could actually hear the young man’s bones breaking.”
The crocodile was immense, so big that Tom, held by the waist could barely, even when stretching, reach out to touch the croc’s eyes.
The crocodile swam beneath a dense cluster of branches and reeds.
The effect of this was to brush Hans off; he had been clinging to the croc’s back, but he was knocked aside. At the same time Tom was pushed hard onto the vegetation.
Louis let go and charged forward to lift the head of his friend.
Tom was still held tight in the jaws of the crocodile. By raising his head, Louis gave Tom the opportunity to suck a bit of air.
Louis did not give up, not for a second.
“In confusion I managed to get a grip of the crocodile at the base of its tail, just behind its hind feet, and dragged it out from beneath the reeds. I still don’t know where I got the strength, because a crocodile of that size can easily weigh in the vicinity of five hundred kilograms.”
Louis was so full of desperate energy that he actually tried to lift the giant crocodile out of the water and onto the riverbank.
He couldn’t even get his arms around the body. No way! The bloody thing was massive.
He did manage to get a hold on the crocodile again. This time he grabbed the tail.
“With a powerful swing of its body, the croc threw me off, sending me flying through the air like a tattered rag. My ribs were bruised and I realized that we would never be able to overpower the crocodile unarmed.”
This shows how difficult the task was. The victim cannot do much to save himself and the task at hand is not an easy job for even a few grown men.
“That was when I stormed out of the water to fetch Tom’s revolver in the car. At that stage Tom was clinging to the vegetation on the riverbank for dear life.”
This would have been of great assistance. If only……………………….
“Halfway there I stopped in my tracks as it occurred to me that Tom had left his weapon behind in the restcamp. I ran to Tom and lowered my legs until they were just in front of his chest, while I lay on my stomach and clung to the branch of a green thorn tree with my left hand. Dickie Kaizer, the helicopter pilot, held onto my right hand. I shouted to Tom to hold onto my legs as I wanted to try and lift him out of the water.”
There were three men hard at work here, trying to save Tom.
“Dickie and I were surprised at the ease with which we managed this, crocodile and all. What we did not know though, was that Hans Kolver was trying to lift the animal’s head out of the water at the same time to get better access of the animal’s eyes.”
Hans failed. The croc was too strong and the men had to let go.
A fourth person enters the fray!
Dickie’s wife Corrie ran to their vehicle and brought back a collapsible spade. Unfortunately, the croc took the opportunity presented, and knocked the spade out of Louis’ hands.
“At that moment, with the crocodile’s head out of the water, Hans pushed the pointed fingers of both his hands firmly into the animal’s eyes,” Louis continues.
“The crocodile must have been in great pain, because it let go of Tom immediately, and within seconds, clamped its jaw around Hans’ arm before disappearing with him under the water. When the gigantic animal appeared on the surface with its prey a metre further on and started swimming upstream at great speed, Corrie had already pressed a big carving knife into my hand.
Hans cried out, ‘Help, he has me!’
The croc didn’t listen, but instead attacked with even more vigour. It grabbed Hans’ upper arm and shoulder. The enormous strength of the crocodile’s jaws easily broke his arm.
Louis rushed closer through the shallow water and ran a short distance past the crocodile before descending on it with the knife. Unfortunately, the knife could not penetrate the thick scales on the crocodile’s chest.
By this time Louis was beside himself with rage, and he leapt up onto the crocodile’s back where he stabbed half the length of the 150 mm blade into the animal’s eye. The croc did not like that. Finally, the men were getting somewhere.
Louis was overjoyed to give the big brute some kind of payback.
“The blood squirted out of the crocodile’s eye and onto my hand. It let go of Hans immediately. I strengthened my grip on the crocodile’s throat because I wanted to make sure that I stayed with the beast. I wanted to kill this monster.”
One can understand this rage.
“This was, however, not to be, because with a spinning motion it broke loose of my grip as though I did not exist, and quickly disappeared downstream in the deep water…”
Tom was still hanging onto the vegetation. He helplessly watched the fight and saw the crocodile disappear under the water. Tom was likely in a state of shock.
“When everything was over, I looked down, and to my surprise saw that my one foot was facing backwards.”
Tom reacted by twisting his foot back into place.
“Before my two brave colleagues could reach me, I had twisted it around to face the front.
Now Louis and Hans returned to Tom’s side. Louis stood guard, the big knife held securely in his hand, while Hans, broken arm disregarded, helped lift Tom onto the riverbank.
Others in the group administered first-aid. Afterwards Louis returned to the island and brought a remaining colleague to safety.
Louis was now unable to lift his badly injured friend, unable to carry him to the pick-up truck, and in fact unable to do much more. He was exhausted and going into shock. Louis managed to drag Tom to the vehicle, while the others stood mesmerized.
Tom remembers the last piece of the big rescue but did not feel the pain.
“My stomach had been torn open, I had broken bones and had to push my intestines back inside my body with my hand. Despite this, I felt no pain, probably as a result of the shock.”
“At that stage it did not feel as though I was seriously injured.”
In no time at all Tom was taken to a doctor at Skukuza. Then there was a fast helicopter ride to the hospital in Nelspruit.
Pool Hans had to travel by car – no room in the helicopter.
As for Tom, he was conscious most of the way. He remembers how the pilot had to remove the door of the helicopter so that his passenger could fit lying down.
“My legs hung out of the door and I can still remember how my feet got wet when we flew through a thunderstorm.
“Then the pain got hold of me and I lost consciousness before we could land at the Rob Fereira Hospital.”
Croc bites are not a clean wound. They are a filthy wound from a mouth full of bacteria. The damage from the bite itself is just a beginning.
Consequently, Tom became seriously ill within three days. He had to be transferred with great haste to the Eugene Marais Hospital in Pretoria by helicopter, where he had to endure immense pain for a long time because he refused to be given morphine anaesthesia for fear of becoming addicted to it.
After the attack Louis suffered badly from nightmares, dreaming that he was still engaged in a war with the horrible brute.
“I could not sleep at night and had to work myself into a state of physical exhaustion before I could fall asleep.”
Hans married on plan, but without the presence of his mate.
“Although Tom could not be the master of ceremonies at my wedding a few weeks later as was originally planned, we were all very thankful that he had escaped with his life.”
Tom returned home after nine months in hospital – back to the wilderness he loved so much – to resume his duties as a game ranger.
At a formal ceremony Louis Oliver and Hans Kolver later both received the Wolraad Woltemade Award (silver) for their bravery.
1978 (2 awards)
- Kolver, Johannes Petrus[5] — rescued a man from the jaws of a crocodile in the Kruger National Park (21 November 1976)[6]
- Olivier, Louis Pieter[5] — rescued a man from the jaws of a crocodile in the Kruger National Park (21 November 1976)[6]
SOURCE:WIKIPEDIA
I reckon they deserved it, and more. They avoided the croc attack fatal, as things could easily have been worse.
In a very moving ceremony a few years later, Tom Yssel named his second son Louis: after the brave friend who had saved his life.
THE KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER – TAKEAWAY.
- Do not go into the water.
- Do not stand at the edge.
- Do not go into deep water.
- Make sure you take your mates.
- Make sure you have good reliable mates
- Keep a weapon handy. No kitchen knives.
Pray……………………….
Cheers from Crocman.
P.S. Read about croc attacks in Australia LINK TO ATTACKS.