CHENNAI: A Sunday morning drive turned into a nightmare for a city-based entrepreneur when a crocodile attacked him and snapped off his left arm at Thattekere lake, off Kanakapura Road.
Mudit Dandwate (29) and a large group of friends had planned a trip out of the city. But when most of them backed out, he and another friend decided to go on a long drive in the friend’s car and set off from Indiranagar where Dandwate stays. Their pet dogs too accompanied them on the joy ride.
When they reached a temple on the way, they stopped the car and went there. When they returned, they saw their two dogs had run into the nearby Thattekere lake. Things got out of hand when they rushed behind the dogs to rescue them, according to Dr Anjana Reddy, one of his friends.
Dandwate, who went knee-deep into the water, managed to rescue both the dogs. Just as his friend was taking the dogs to the shore, Dandwate was attacked by the crocodile. The thrashing crocodile latched on to his left arm as he tried to scramble and get away. “Dandwate had to battle with it for a while before it let go of his arm. But his arm was severed,” said Dr Anjana Reddy. The friend immediately took Dandwate to Sagar Hospital. From there, Dandwate was shifted to Hosmat Hospital.
Dandwate underwent debridement (a procedure which is done to remove contamination of the wound) and will undergo another surgical procedure on Monday. Dr Thomas Chandy, chief of orthopaedics, Hosmat Hospital, said the patient is stable. “His arm is cut from elbow below. The crocodile’s saliva is infectious and hence needs thorough cleaning. The focus would be on closing the wound now. Following this, a prosthetic arm would be fixed,” he said.
Ulsoor police have been alerted about the incident since it is a medico-legal case, according to hospital authorities. Dandwate runs a healthcare startup. His parents, who are in Nagpur, were informed about the incident late in the evening. His friends complained that the lake had no warning signs about the presence of crocodiles nor was there any fencing for safety.