Kendrapara, July 31: A 37-year-old woman with nothing but a cooking pot and ladle in her hands fought a 10-feet crocodile that was dragging her into the water and managed to save herself.

Sabitri Samal, a homemaker, was washing utensils at a creek near her house in Singiri village under Rajkanika police station limits on Thursday when the reptile attacked her.

She is now being treated at a government hospital.

"No one had seen crocodiles in this creek before and it took me by surprise. I was saved by an aluminium cooking bowl and ladle that I had brought from home to wash," she said.

"The reptile pounced on me and dragged me into the water. At that point, I repeatedly hit the crocodile on its forehead and eye. I was about to lose hope when it released its grip," she said.

The forest department has taken responsibility of the woman's treatment because the attack took place outside the limits of the national park.

"The state forest department will bear the cost of treatment of the injured because the attack took place outside the national park limits. The department will also award compensation to the injured person's family following the revised rules," said Bimal Prasanna Acharya, divisional forest officer of Rajnagar mangrove (wildlife) division.

Over the past two months, two people have died and at least seven have been injured in man-crocodile conflicts in villages near Bhitarkanika National Park. The carcass of a crocodile, apparently killed by villagers, was also found at the Khola ferry ghat near the national park.

The forest department, however, has said that people were exposing themselves to these attacks by venturing into crocodile-infested water bodies.

"The forest department has initiated a series of measures to save humans and domesticated animals from preying crocodiles. Over two dozen riverside spots have been identified as danger zones because of frequent crocodile sightings. People have been issued several warnings to avoid these areas. The bathing spots, near which the reptiles have been sighted, are now barricaded," said an official.