TAKE THAT CROCODILE!

When Anthony was attacked in a dam on a weekend break, his fearless family and friends had no intention of losing him to the bloodthirsty beast

- JACQUES MYBURGH

IT WAS a picture-perfect weekend: hanging out with family and friends on a farm in Middelburg, making the best of the gloriously sunny late summer weekend.

The greatest exertions they’d planned were casting a fishing line in the dam, opening a can of lager as the sun went down and turning meat on the coals for the evening braai.

Little did they expect their idyllic getaway to turn into something straight out of Crocodile Dundee!

The drama all started when 12-yearold JP Joubert was fishing and called out to say he had a bite on his line. His dad, Anthony Fourie (37), and a friend, Johan van der Colff (36), made their way to the boy after seeing that JP’s line had become entangled in branches.

“I went into the dam to try to free the line,” Anthony says. He was barely ankle-deep in the water when out of nowhere a crocodile shot out of the shallows and clamped its jaws on his thigh.

His wife, Annalize (33), who was relaxing nearby, will never forget her husband’s terrified screams.

“At first we thought Johan and Anthony were trying to scare the children but JP came running up to us on the banks of the dam and said Dad was being attacked by a crocodile. We immediately rushed down to the water.”

They arrived in time to see Anthony being thrashed about like a ragdoll by the powerful reptile. Johan tried to grab Anthony’s hand and pull him out of the creature’s grip – and for a moment it worked and the croc released him.

Annalize yelled for Anthony to grab her hand too so she could help him out of the water but her husband was in shock and seemed frozen to the spot.