Friend saves fisherman in Barberton croc attack

As the old saying goes, you never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.

This rang true for Jerry Visagie, the brother of rugby legend Vleis Visagie, who rescued his friend Fanie Fourie (45) from the clutches of a 4m-long crocodile during a fishing trip on a farm in the Snymansbult area on February 26. Fourie and Visagie were fishing at their usual spot when suddenly, while Fourie was washing his hands after casting his second line, he disappeared underwater.

“I was standing with my back to the dam when I suddenly heard a splash in the water. When I turned around, Fanie was gone. The next moment he reappeared and shouted, ‘He got me!'”

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Visagie’s first reaction was to stab the croc with a fishing rod pod, but it was in vain.

With Fourie’s right arm in its jaws, the crocodile, with a head described by Visagie as broader than Fourie’s body, went into a death roll in an effort to drown him. “It really was a massive crocodile,” Visagie told Lowvelder.

With indomitable strength he cannot explain, Visagie grabbed Fourie by the collar of his shirt and dragged both him and the crocodile to shore.

“I don’t know how I managed that, but it was a miracle from above that I had enough strength to drag them towards the bank.”

Only when he stabbed it again, this time in its eyes, it finally released Fourie’s arm. It tried to attack Visagie twice before it finally returned to the water.

Visagie bandaged the gaping wound on Fourie’s right arm with a shirt and rushed him to Barberton Hospital. After being stabilised, he was transferred to Rob Ferreira Hospital.

He sustained severe injuries on his right arm. “He also bit me on the stomach and right leg. I knew I had to get away from him and pushed my left hand into his mouth to stop him from dragging me into the water. Some of the fingertips on my left hand were bitten off during the incident,” Fourie said.

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“Thank the Lord they could save my arm. All praise to God,” was his reaction shortly after he came out of theatre in Rob Ferreira where he had to undergo an emergency operation on Tuesday.

“I’m feeling much better now that I know I won’t lose my arm. However, they had to amputate two fingers on my left hand, which were bitten off by the crocodile,” he said.

It was originally suspected that the injuries to his right arm could have been so severe that it might have had to be amputated.

“During the operation, they just had to debride the wound, cutting away dead and rotten flesh, but they could save the arm. The small finger on my right hand was just put into a splint.”

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Lowvelders planning a fishing trip or a visit to any rivers or dams in the area, should be on the lookout for crocodiles. This is a stern warning from Ertjies Röhm of the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA).

“Due to the recent floods, more than usual crocodiles were either washed away or moved to dams where they felt safer than in a flooding river. We are also aware of crocs that were washed away from crocodile farms in the Queens and Suid-Kaap rivers near Barberton.”

Röhm said the MTPA will not try to catch or kill the crocodile, because the owner of the dam indicated that he is happy to leave the reptile there.

Both Visagie and Fourie were aware of the croc’s presence, but said it had never bothered them before.