Odisha: Crocodiles attack, drag off two women in two weeks

A 38-year-old woman was attacked and dragged into water by a crocodile in the Bhitarkanika National Park in Odisha’s Kendrapara district.

An adult crocodile attacked Baula Pradhan, a fisher woman near Ajagarapatia creek yesterday, Divisional Forest Officer, Rajnagar Mangrove (wildlife) forest division, Kedar Kumar Swain said.

The victim is yet to be traced.

Forest personnel went to the area after villagers agitated over the incident, saying that the occurrences of such attacks had been getting more frequent. The incident occurred within the national park limits.

The fisher woman’s family would be covered under an ex-gratia compensation payment scheme following the recovery of the body, Swain said.

A fortnight back, a woman of Bania village was similarly dragged off by a crocodile, forest officials said. However, any casualty is yet to be officially registered as the victim’s body could not be retrieved.

Swain said that part of the problem was the fact that villagers were trespassing into national park water bodies for fishing and collecting wood and were falling prey to such attacks. “These water-bodies are crocodile-infested zones”, he said.

However he said that there were also official reports of saltwater crocodiles from Bhitarkanika wildlife sanctuary straying into Brahmani, Baitarani, Petashala and Kharasrota rivers.

The conflict and consequent loss of human lives are frequently recorded during monsoon and winter months, the nesting season of the estuarine crocodiles.

PTI