Workplace nightmare: Employee finds a Komodo dragon under his desk and ends up with 55 stitches

Southeastern Indonesian is home to Komodo National Park, the only place where its infamous inhabitants, the Komodo dragon, still roam free in the wild. These massive venomous lizards, which can grow to over 10 feet and weigh over 300 pounds, are the apex predator where they live.

They have a mouth full of razor-sharp curved teeth and a powerful bite. Along with their extremely strong neck muscles, they can tear apart their prey by violently swinging their heads back and forth.

Although humans are responsible for reducing their numbers to less than 3,500, surprisingly, those that reside in Komodo dragon habitat have lived in relative peace with the creatures for ages. There have only been 24 attacks on humans and five of those resulted in fatalities since 1974 according to park authorities.

These have mainly involved locals, park rangers and tourists that go places they shouldn’t or who get too close to the creatures, which can reach speeds of 20 miles per hour. But usually they lay in wait for their next meal as one park ranger found out the hard way, but luckily survived to tell the story.

Close call with a Komodo dragon

Several of the dangerous lizards hang out around the outside of the Komodo National Park staff office on Rinca island, attracted by the smell of food and hoping to scrouge scraps that are dropped. Unfortunately, someone from the cleaning crew had left the door open the previous night providing an opportunity for one to get inside.

Unaware of this, Maen showed up to work at the office one morning in 2009 and went to sit at his desk as usual. However, he should have looked under his desk first, as the intruder was hanging out there. When he realized this, Maen tried to slowly pull his feet back out without the creature noticing, but he moved too fast triggering the predator to lunge for his leg and bite him.

Maen recounted to Michael Turtle, founder of Time Travel Turtle, that he used his other foot to step on the dragon’s neck to pin it down and then attempted to pry open its mouth to free his trapped leg. While he succeeded in getting his leg out, the carnivore bit his hand.

He screamed for help from the other staff and fortunately there was one person in the cafeteria that heard him. He was too scared to approach the lizard, but once he saw the blood he ran to get help from the others.

The smell of Maen’s blood attracted more and bigger Komodo dragons, which can smell blood miles away. This meant that some of the rangers had to clear them away while two other companions rescued their injured co-worker.

They successfully evacuated Maen to the jetty where he was ferried to a hospital on Flores Island. However, his injuries needed more serious attention, so he was flown to Bali. He required 55 stitches in the end and six months of recovery.

Despite his near-death experience and an offer to switch positions, he decided to return to his job at the Rinca island staff office. Nowadays though, he doesn’t do any work outside and just works from his desk.

“The dragon, I can’t remember which one, he’s still alive, but I think now he’ll be bigger,” Maen told Turtle.

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