A 39-YEAR-OLD axe-wielding lumberjack became the latest victim of a pig attack on Monday during an ill-fated logging trip in Pursat province’s Krakor district, police said.

District police Chief Len Song said Phoun Bok was bitten on his legs and stomach when he attempted to catch a wild pig that had begun fighting with his dog, which had accompanied him on the expedition.

“Immediately, the wild pig ran at him and started to bite him all over his body,” Len Song said, adding that the beast, which fled the scene and remains on the run, weighs about 50 or 60 kilograms.

He said Phoun Bok, who is recovering in hospital, had been saved by some quick thinking, covering his stomach as he was lying helplessly on the ground.

“Many villagers have met wild pigs in the jungle while cutting down trees, but they have never been injured,” he said.

Ros Bunan, Pursat’s deputy police commissioner, said the attack was similar to one that proved fatal earlier this year. “But this man died from severe wounds because the pig bit him everywhere on his body,” he added.

Late last month, a man in Prey Veng province was killed by a five-legged peg after he tried to chase it out of his garden.