The man who witnessed his colleague being attacked by an ostrich in Harrismith says he rushed to help and saved him.
|||Durban - The man who witnessed his colleague being attacked by an ostrich in Harrismith on Tuesday says he rushed to help and saved him from more serious injuries.
The two are radio frequency network technicians and were carrying out routine maintenance on an Altech Netstar site in the Bergview 1 Stop complex when they were attacked by an ostrich kept in the complex.
The man, who asked not to be named, said he shouted and threw rocks at the animal as it stomped on his friend until it was distracted and started chasing him.
A medical officer, one of the first people at the scene, had reported that the colleague fled during the attack, but the man disputed this on Tuesday.
“That is not true, I am the one who distracted the ostrich until it turned and chased me, giving my colleague a chance to escape. I did not desert my colleague,” he said.
Read: Man seriously injured in ostrich attack
He said he and his colleague were the working at the site for the first time.
“We were not told anything about ostriches. We called our manager who said to go ahead.”
He said it was only when they went back to get a ladder that they were attacked. “The ostrich appeared out of nowhere and attacked my colleague. It was stomping on him with its feet.”
He said his colleague had escaped and hid in a ditch until he could be helped out of the enclosure.
He said his colleague had suffered many injuries including lacerations to his chin, “I went to see him (in hospital) and he is getting better,” he said.
The Mercury