Crocodile attacks boy, rips off his left arm on family fishing trip in South Africa

A relaxing family fishing trip turned to horror when a little boy had his arm ripped off by a monster crocodile.

Johandre Blom is fighting for his life after the reptile attacked him at a fishing resort on Crocodile River in Brits in South Africa.

The seven-year-old was playing in shallow water with nine-year-old friend Dylan Bekker when the croc latched its jaws on him on Friday.

With Dylan’s screaming alerting the boys’ parents to the unfolding horror, fathers Corne Blom and Jannie Bekker, who were sitting about 25m away near a caravan, jumped into action.

“My little boy (Dylan) screamed,” Mr Bekker told Maroela Media. “I saw him grab Johandre by the arm but there was a big jerk and then Johandre was away from Dylan.

“Dylan shouted, ‘There’s a crocodile here’, and Corne and I immediately ran to the water.”

With the croc throwing the youngster about like rag doll, Mr Bekker thought the seven-year-old was a goner.

But Mr Blom was able to grab his son while the croc circled.

“Corne struggled to get Johandre under the water,” Mr Bekker said. “He grabbed Johandre around the waist.”

Bringing the boy out of the water, the urgency of the situation became far more apparent — Johandre‘s left arm had been bitten off.

The dads applied towels and pressure to the wound.

“Surprisingly, there wasn’t much blood,” Mr Bekker said.

By now, Johandre’s mum Amanda was ushering them into a car and off to hospital.

“The ambulance found them ... and helped Johandre in where they stablised him,” Mr Bekker said.

Johandre has reportedly been placed in an induced coma and is in a stable condition in a hospital in Alberton.

A boat was put on the water to try to find the boy’s arm, with the attacking croc also circling the vessel.

Mr Bekker said the croc was a “massive thing”.

There has been some online criticism of the parents, accusing them of not being careful enough in the known habitat of such a dangerous animal.

But Mr Bekker said the children were in shallow water “busy looking for crabs and throwing pebbles like kids do”.

He said there was no sign of the crocodile or any strange movement in the water.