Rajkanika: A 13-year-old boy from Khunta village in Jaynagar panchayat under this block in Kendrapara district, narrowly escaped death Tuesday after fighting off a crocodile attack. Rakesh, son of farmer Ratnakar Mallick and a student of Class-VIII, was carrying lunch for his father working in the fields around 2:15 pm.
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He went to wash a kettle at Khunta creek, a water channel linked to the Brahmani River, when a crocodile suddenly attacked him and bit his left thigh. Rakesh screamed for help and grabbed a nearby cane shrub to resist. Hearing cries, his father rushed to the spot and pulled him away from the reptile. Rakesh sustained deep wounds on his left thigh, with part of the flesh below the knee torn. Villagers rushed him to the local community health center, where doctors administered him first aid before shifting him to the Kendrapara district headquarters hospital for advanced treatment.
