Drama in real life

by D. Jeevananda De Silva

This is a story based on an unbelievable incident that took place when the tsunami struck the southern coast of Sri Lanka. There was this rather well to do person living near the estuary of the Nilwala river in Matara.

He was in the habit of feeding fish in the river and one day when he was feeding fish he noticed the presence of two crocodiles in the river. Being the generous man he was, he left some food on the bank of the river for the crocodiles and moved away.

The crocodiles too fed on this food and thereafter he regularly left food for the crocodiles and the animals too got into the habit of feeding on his food.

This was going on for sometime and on the 26th of Dec. 2005 the tsunami struck. The man who used to feed the crocks was standing on the bank of Nilwala river, when water rushed in and he was swept away towards the sea by the strong flow of water.

While he was being swept into the sea he somehow managed to cling on to a rock that was lying near the estuary. However he was facing the danger of being swept into deep sea with the next rush of water.

Then he noticed some object like a tree trunk floating nearby. By this time he was half dazed by the ordeal he was undergoing and he thought of clinging on to the tree trunk and swimming towards the bank to save his life. He jumped into the water and clung onto the trunk with all his might.

Next, something strange started happening. The tree trunk started floating towards the river bank. When it reached the bank the man jumped off the floating tree trunk and sat on the bank fully exhausted. The floating object slowly moved away and all of a sudden a crocodile opened its mouth and dived into the water.

The survivor could not believe his eyes. The object he was holding onto was actually a live crocodile and it had saved the man from drowning by bringing him to the bank. The survivor swears that the croc saved his life to show gratitude for feeding them.