PONDA
An elderly woman had a lucky escape, quite literally, from the jaws of death after two relatives and some locals pulled her from the jaws of a crocodile in the river at Dabal early Tuesday morning.
According to sources, the incident took place at about 7 am as Visranti Gaonkar from Saton-Dabal, had gone to the Dudhsagar near her house to wash clothes.While she was busy washing clothes, a crocodile suddenly grabbed her legs and began dragging her into the water. Realising the danger, the woman quickly held on to a nearby tree and began screaming for help. Hearing her screams, her brother-in-law and sister-in-law, who were residing near the river rushed to the river bank and tried to rescue her. They too raised an alarm and locals rushed to the river bank and rescued Gaonkar. Since Gaonkar had suffered serious injuries on both legs, she was initially admitted to the primary health centre at Piliem-Dharbandora and was later referred to the district hospital at Margao for further treatment. Locals have demanded that the forest department take measures to ensure the safety of people from the village who go to the river for various purposes.
