Man half-swallowed by a 13ft crocodile is saved when his wife bashes the reptile over the head with a log as it thrashed around trying to drown him at South African fishing spot

A father who was half-swallowed by a beastly 13ft crocodile was saved by his quick thinking wife after she smashed the reptile over the head with a log while 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 caught in a tree leaving a bass dangling from a branch in an inch of water.

JP went to walk into the shallow water to unsnag it but Anthony told him to stay on the bank before walking just a foot out into the lake to untangle the fish from a low branch.

The father-of-three said: 'This crocodile must have been lying in ambush because all of a sudden it exploded from the water and had its jaws round my leg and knocked me flat.

'There was water everywhere then it adjusted its grip and had my second leg in its mouth just below my belt and started thrashing its head to the left and right with such power'.

Anthony Joubert pictured with his saviour - wife Annalize

Father-of-three Anthony Joubert (pictured recovering with his family) was saved by his brave wife after she entered the water with a log and beat the croc around the head until it 'slid away'

Following the brutal 'tug of war' for his leg from the jaws of the reptilian beast, Anthony said he has four deep wounds on his legs and stomach, as well as an assortment of single tooth wounds

In his horrific recount of the experience, he revealed he could not see his own legs as the reptile's teeth sunk into his flesh.

'I could not see my legs and could just see its teeth and those evil eyes just looking at me as it slowly backed towards deeper water where it would take me down deep and drown me.

'I remembered about gouging at the eyes and forced my thumbs into them and it just shook me like a rag doll and then my boss Johan ran into the water and grabbed my trouser belt'.

Shockingly, the brave father said he felt no pain as the beast attempted to devour him. 

'I guess it was the adrenaline. I was punching it and trying to get its eyes out but the more I struggled and fought the more it shook me side to side,' he said.

'I honestly thought my legs were just going to get ripped off. When you look at the wounds it is incredible that I didn't lose one or both legs. I will never forgets its teeth and how it looked at me'.

After battling with the croc for his leg in what he described as a 'tug of war', his heroic wife Annalize dashed to his rescue with a log in hand.  

'My wife Annalize appeared splashing through the water with a huge log from the dam bank.

'She began smashing this giant crocodile over the head again and again with terrific force and after five or six huge bashes 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 up the bank away from danger.

Johan's wife Bianca, 39, had grabbed towels and bandages and antiseptic from the farm house they were borrowing for a weekend picnic and fishing trip and applied first aid.

Anthony continued: 'I thought my moment had come and I know out here in Africa if a crocodile has such a grip on you then it is impossible to escape – it is just unheard of.

'I was waiting 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 it on and saved me from being eaten.

'Every time I shut my eyes or try to sleep I see the crocodile – it is still with me. To have half your body inside a living beast with its jaws around your waist with it moving you deeper.

Brave married couple Johan van der Colff and Annalize, who helped save life of their friend Anthony Joubert

File pic of deadly crocodile

'I never knew my wife had the strength or the power to beat a creature that like off of me. Between her and Johan who was in the water dragging me back they saved my life.

'It will be a long time if ever before I go to a water's edge again. If I had not gone to get the snagged fish and my son JP had then that crocodile would have just taken him for sure.

'Thank God I went out 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 has only just sunk in that I saved his life and I don't know how I did it. I was in severe shock. Half of my husband was inside a giant crocodile - legs first.

'I grabbed this log with a tree stump on the end of it and rushed out into the water and I just started battering it over the head again and again and screaming at it till it let go.

'It opened its jaws and Johan pulled back and Anthony came out and I could see the blood and I just grabbed an arm and he had the other one and we pulled him out of the water.

'We were just terrified the crocodile would come back again and tried to get him up the farm as quick as possible and Bianca was there packing the wounds and bandaging them.

'I was terrified of him bleeding to death and infection from the crocodile's mouth and the dirty water and we loaded Johan into his truck and he rushed him to hospital' she said.

Johan who runs Alfa Fire in Middleburg, a fire prevention service where croc attack Anthony also works, rushed him to the public hospital and left him in the A&E department.

Johan's relatives turned up the next morning and found the wounds still filthy, covered in mud, and largely untreated.

They decided to discharge him and took him to nearby private hospital.

At the Life Midmed Hospital the family had to pay a R100,000 (£4,200) on their credit card towards his medical care before they would treat his injuries and costs may yet treble.

Mother-of-two Bianca, who stabilised Anthony before he was rushed to hospital said: 'If he had staying in the public hospital he would have died – there was no choice to be had.

'Anthony's wounds are now clean and are being left open so they can be kept clean and dressed and disinfected and then in time it will be skin grafts and hell of a lot of healing'.

Bianca revealed she started a fund-raising page to try and help his family cover the costs of the medical bills as it will be around three months until hei s up and running.

'I hope people can find it in their hearts to donate what they can to help him' she said.

Speaking on 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 are all having trauma counselling for what they saw.

'This thing was over four metres long and a metre wide and it was a scene straight out of a horror movie. Half of his body was inside the crocodile with his top half hanging out.

'He was being shaken all over the place while trying to gouge its eyes out. Water was exploding everywhere, the kids were screaming, one was on the ground just praying.

'I have never seen anything like it even on the TV. Statistics say that 1 in 100 people survive a crocodile attack. I don't think anyone has ever survived being half way down a croc.

'When I tried to clean his wounds I found three crocodile teeth still in a stomach hole'.

Anthony said he has four deep wounds on his legs and stomach, as well as an assortment of single tooth wounds.

He admitted he is extremely lucky the crocodile missed his private parts.

A Facebook page has now been set up to help with Anthony's medical fees. 

Anthony added: 'The doctor said an inch to the side and they would have gone. He also said the teeth missed my femoral artery by literally 1mm. If it got that I would have bled out.

'Two very brave people save my life that day from the most horrific death I can imagine. I have a long fight to get back to health but I was one meal the crocodile was not having'.

The dam does have a sign warning of crocodiles but according to locals none have been seen for years and plans are being drawn up to catch the rogue beast and relocate it.