A dad who was half-swallowed by a beastly 10ft crocodile was saved by his quick-thinking wife after she hit the reptile over the head with a log as it tried to drown him.
Anthony Joubert, 37, was fishing with his son JP, 12, at a dam in South Africa when his line got stuck in a tree, leaving a bass dangling from a branch in an inch of water.
JP went into the shallows to try to dislodge it, but Anthony told him to stay on the bank before walking just a foot into the lake to disentangle the fish from a low branch.
The father-of-three said: ‘This crocodile must have been in an ambush because suddenly it exploded out of the water, had its jaws around my leg and knocked me flat.
“There was water everywhere, but he changed his grip and had my second leg in his mouth just below my belt and started hitting his head left and right with so much force.”
Anthony Joubert pictured with his savior: wife Annalize
Dad-of-three Anthony Joubert (pictured recovering with his family) was rescued by his brave wife after she went into the water with a log and punched the crocodile around its head until it ‘slid away’
After the brutal ‘tug of war’ to get his leg out of the reptilian beast’s jaws, Anthony said he has four deep wounds on his legs and stomach, as well as an assortment of single-tooth wounds.
In his horrifying account of the experience, he revealed that he could not see his own legs as the reptile’s teeth sank into his flesh.
‘I couldn’t see my legs and could only see his teeth and those evil eyes that just looked at me as he slowly walked backwards into deeper water where he would take me down deep and drown me.
‘I remembered poking it in the eye and pressing my thumbs into it and it shook me like a rag doll and then my boss Johan ran into the water and grabbed my belt.’
Shockingly, the brave father said he felt no pain as the beast tried to devour him.
‘I think it was the adrenaline. “I hit him and tried to get his eyes out, but the more I struggled and fought, the more he shook me,” he said.
‘Honestly, I thought my legs were just going to get ripped off. When you look at the wounds, it’s incredible that I didn’t lose one or both legs. I will never forget his teeth and the way he looked at me.’
After fighting the crocodile for his leg in what he described as a ‘tug of war’, his heroic wife Annalize rushed to his aid with a log in hand.
“My wife Annalize showed up splashing the water with a huge log from the dam.
“She started hitting this giant crocodile on the head again and again with tremendous force and after five or six huge blows the crocodile’s jaws opened and it slid away,” he said.
Anthony’s employer Johan van der Colff, 36, and Annalize, 33, grabbed the seriously injured victim by the arms and dragged his blood-soaked body onto the bank, away from danger.
Johan’s wife Bianca, 39, had brought towels, bandages and disinfectant from the farm they borrowed for a weekend of picnics and fishing, and provided first aid.
Anthony continued: “I thought my moment had come and I know that when a crocodile has you in its grasp like that, it’s impossible to escape – it’s just unheard of.
‘I waited for the death roll and for it to drown me, but despite the size of this beast, Johan and Annalize ran into the dam and took over and prevented me from being eaten.
‘Every time I close my eyes or try to sleep, I see the crocodile – it’s still with me. To have half your body inside a living beast, with its jaws around your waist, moving you deeper.
The brave couple Johan van der Colff and Annalize, who helped save the life of their friend Anthony Joubert
File photo of deadly crocodile
‘I never knew that my wife had the strength or power to defeat a being that loves me. Between her and Johan, who was in the water and dragged me back, they saved my life.
‘It will be a long time before I go to the waterfront again. If I hadn’t gone to get the stuck fish and my son JP had, that crocodile would definitely have taken it.
‘Thank God I went into the water and not my son. That would have been too much,” said Anthony, whose daughters Liza, 10, and Ashleigh, 6, witnessed their father’s attack.
Housewife Annalize said: ‘It’s only just dawned on me that I saved his life and I don’t know how I did it. I was in severe shock. Half of my husband was in a giant crocodile – legs first.
“I grabbed this log with a stump on the end of it and ran into the water and started hitting him on the head over and over again and yelling at him until he let go.
“It opened its jaws and Johan pulled out and Anthony came out and I could see the blood and I just grabbed one arm and he had the other and we pulled him out of the water.
‘We were just terrified that the crocodile would come back and tried to get it to the farm as quickly as possible. Bianca was there packing and bandaging the wounds.
‘I was terrified he would bleed to death and become infected by the crocodile’s mouth and the dirty water. We loaded Johan into his truck and he rushed him to the hospital,” she said.
Johan, who runs Alfa Fire in Middelburg, a fire prevention service where Anthony also works, rushed him to the public hospital and left him in the emergency department.
Johan’s relatives visited the next morning and found the wounds still filthy, covered in mud and largely untreated.
They decided to discharge him and took him to the nearby private hospital.
At Life Midmed Hospital, the family had to pay R100,000 (£4,200) on their credit card for his medical care before they could treat his injuries and the costs could triple.
Mother-of-two Bianca, who stabilized Anthony before he was rushed to hospital, said: ‘If he had stayed in the public hospital he would have died – there was no choice.
“Anthony’s wounds are now clean and are being left open so they can be kept clean and bandaged and disinfected, and in time they will be skin grafts and lots of healing.”
Bianca revealed that she has started a fundraising page to try and help his family cover the costs of medical bills as it will take around three months for him to be operational again.
“I hope people can find it in their hearts to donate what they can to help him,” she said.
Speaking about the attack, she added: ‘Anthony’s children and mine were shouting ‘save him, save him’ and ‘don’t let him die, don’t let him die’. They all receive trauma therapy for what they saw.
‘This thing was over four meters long and three feet wide and it looked straight out of a horror movie. Half of his body was inside the crocodile and his top half was hanging out.
‘He was being shaken all over the place trying to put his eyes out. The water exploded everywhere, the children were screaming, one was on the floor praying.
‘I’ve never seen anything like it, not even on television. Statistics say that 1 in 100 people survive a crocodile attack. I don’t think anyone has ever survived being halfway to a crocodile.
“When I tried to clean his wounds, I found three more crocodile teeth in a stomach hole.”
Anthony said he has four deep wounds on his legs and abdomen, as well as an assortment of single-tooth wounds.
He admitted that he was extremely lucky that the crocodile missed his genitals.
a Facebook page has now been established to help with Anthony’s medical costs.
Anthony added: “The doctor said an inch to the side and they would be gone. He also said the teeth literally missed my femoral artery by 1mm. If it were, I would bleed to death.
‘Two very brave people saved my life that day from the most horrific death I can imagine. I had a long battle to get healthy again, but I was a meal the crocodile didn’t get.’
There is a sign warning of crocodiles at the dam, but locals say none have been seen for years and plans are being made to capture and relocate the rogue creature.