A 7-year-old old boy is in a coma in a South African hospital after losing an arm in a crocodile attack.
Johandre Blom was in shallow water at the Emanzini Fishing Resort at Roodekoppies Dam on the Crocodile River near Brits, South Africa, when he was attacked last week.
Blom and his friend Dylan Bekker were playing in the water when the croc struck.
Dylan’s desperate cries alerted their fathers, who were fishing nearby, the Kormorant newspaper reported.
“Dylan screamed and grabbed Johandre trying to pull him away from the crocodile,” said Jannie Bekker, Dylan’s father.
The man said that Johandre’s father Corne then dived in to save his son, who was being death-rolled by the predator.
“Corne is a big man, and while he was holding onto Johandre, he was also spun around,” Bekker told the Kormorant.
“It was a monster of a crocodile.”
The men used a towel to wrap the boy’s wound before rushing him to nearby Brits Hospital, where he was stabilised before being transferred via helicopter to a hospital in Alberton where he remains in an induced coma.
The boy’s arm was not found, but the crocodile reportedly targeted a boat that was sent out to retrieve it.
Jannie Bekker said he advised the owner of the resort to take action against the crocodile.
“This must not happen again,” he said.
“It was horrendous.”
Johandre Blom remains in a stable condition and faces a lengthy recovery.
An online appeal has been launched to provide for his care, stating “there is still a long road ahead for his care and rehabilitation and the medical bills are astronomical".
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