AMREF evacuates fisherman attacked by crocodile
Under special circumstances, African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) Flying Doctors provides a charity evacuation service to evacuate patients in a serious medical condition free of charge. In March, one such operation had to be initiated to retrieve a patient who had been attacked by a crocodile. Flight nurse Joel Cheluguy described the mission.
Under special circumstances, African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) Flying Doctors provides a charity evacuation service to evacuate patients in a serious medical condition free of charge. In March, one such operation had to be initiated to retrieve a patient who had been attacked by a crocodile. Flight nurse Joel Cheluguy described the mission
On 19 March at 10:00 hrs, the Control Centre at AMREF Flying Doctors received a distress call from Illeret Health Centre about a patient who had been attacked by a crocodile. It was reported that the patient had sustained a fracture of the left leg and was bleeding a lot from bites on the left buttock, left elbow and left toes.
The patient, Hille, was fishing in the cold waters of the Lake Turkana at 03:00 hrs when a crocodile was out hunting too. Crocodile attacks are not uncommon in this part of the globe, but the community and the crocodiles know that they must maintain a balance in search of food and water for both to live side by side.
The most common crocodile-tackling defence manoeuvre is to stab the eyes in close range, especially when the saw-toothed canines have locked into human flesh – a technique well developed by the fishing community in this region. Hille attempted to bravely fight back by stabbing the crocodile in the eye; however, he missed. Had Hille’s friends not acted quickly, he would have forever sunk into the cold dark waters of Lake Turkana. Hille survived the attack, but without treatment the bacteria in the animals’ filthy teeth would have killed him.
AMREF Flying Doctors took off from Nairobi to Illeret, a two-hour flight in one of our Cessna Caravans, flying through the Aberdares on the left and Mount Kenya on the right. We had prepared for bleeding arteries and possible dehydration due to lack of fluid replacement and intense pain. There was also a possibility of infection, though this would be seen at a later date.
On arrival at Illeret, we found Hille in the back seat of a pickup truck. He had bled significantly and looked dehydrated. We inserted an intravenous line, immediately giving him much-needed fluids. We gave him pain medication and with the help of the curious onlookers lifted him out of the pickup onto our stretcher. We immobilised the limb, stopping the bleeding, and made him comfortable so we could load him into the aircraft.
Illeret feels like a furnace and the sweat coursed down our bodies unrestrained. There were naked children with only a thin thread round their waist. We mused maybe there was no need for clothes in this part of the world after all, with such high degrees of heat.
We alerted the Control Centre that we were ready to depart to Wamba to drop off the patient. Wamba is an 80-minute flight in a Cessna Caravan from Illeret and is where the closest hospital is located. We continued to stabilise the patient with intravenous fluids and controlled his pain. Hille drifted off to sleep and could not see the charred arid plains of northern Kenya.
We landed in Wamba and handed over the patient at the hospital. We took off for base at Nairobi Wilson airport and landed at 17:00 hrs – a day’s work successfully accomplished.
We followed up with Wamba Hospital after the evacuation. X-rays showed no limb fracture, but a dislocation of the left knee. A cast was put on and Hille was put on antibiotics and his many wounds were dressed daily. Blood tests revealed that Hille was also suffering from malaria.
We were glad that one more life had been snatched from the crocodile’s teeth and kept alive courtesy of AMREF Flying Doctors’ Donors and partners.