A 37-year-old homemaker from the Sundarbans displayed remarkable courage on Saturday by fighting off a crocodile for 30 minutes before villagers rescued her from the jaws of the reptile.

Around 6am, Pranati Pramanik was collecting crabs in a creek near the Ashwini Maiti ghat of Bonshyamnagar village under Patharpratima block, South 24-Parganas, when the crocodile pounced on her.

Wife of a migrant labourer, she was later admitted to the Patharpratima Rural Hospital. Her condition is stable.

Local residents said that due to her husband’s alleged negligence and the family’s poverty, Pranati stayed in a dilapidated house with her two school-going daughters, one in Class XI and the other in Class II. She would catch crabs every day for some earnings, sometimes accompanied by her daughters.

On Saturday, as usual, Pranati went to catch crabs in the forest near Ashwini Maiti’s fishing village ghat. While she was pulling up her fishing net, it got entangled in the mangrove roots, causing her to inadvertently fall into the water.

Suddenly, a crocodile lunged at her and clamped its jaws around her waist. Showing great presence of mind, Pranati clung to a tree to prevent going underwater and tried to fight off the reptile with her fists while screaming for help. Finally, villagers, including women, rescued her. The crocodile escaped.

Forest officials said saltwater or estuarine crocodiles have increasingly been straying into creeks, canals and water bodies close to human habitation in the Sundarbans. This is the nesting season for crocodiles, during which they tend to turn more aggressive, often leading to a rise in human-crocodile conflicts in areas bordering the delta.