Fisherman fights off croc attack

Compiled by PATRICK LEE, WINNIE YEOH and M. UMAGESWARI 

A FISHERMAN caught in the jaws of a crocodile escaped when he stabbed the beast in the eye with his finger, Kosmo! reported.

Pak Mat, 45, was fishing at the Saribas river near his home in Kampung Sebemban, Betong on Sunday when the crocodile suddenly clamped its jaws on his left hand.

“It’s hard for me to picture what happened, but from what I remember, the crocodile came up and wanted to maul and eat me.

“I stumbled, and in that moment it pulled me by my left hand into the river,” he said at the Betong Hospital.

Pak Mat fought for his life and, in a sudden move, went for the crocodile’s right eye and tried to dig it out with his right index finger.

The crocodile immediately let go and disappeared into the river.

Pak Mat returned to his village for help.

The incident is believed to be the first of its kind in the village.

> A man in full traditional Malay costume was among 71 people arrested in a drug raid in Malacca, Berita Harian reported.

He was with three disabled people and a security personnel member when the National Anti-Drug Agency raided an oil palm plantation in Taman Sungai Udang in Ayer Keroh at 4am on Sunday.

The man claimed that he was dressed for the Maulidur Rasul parade in Sungai Udang.

> A home for the mentally disturbed in Malacca was almost burned down when a resident set fire to clothes on the roof of the building, Harian Metro reported.

Workers at the home in Bukit Baru said they smelled something burning at about 1.55pm on Monday and walked out only to see the clothes burning on the roof.

“It’s a good thing that a caregiver smelled it before seeing the smoke,” said the home’s chairman R. David, 41.

He added that other workers rushed to put out the fire which was later extinguished by firemen.

David believed that a 37-year-old mentally unsound man started the fire. A lighter was found on him.

“We didn’t take any action against him because we understand his disability,” David said.

Found in translation is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.