15-year-old boy savaged by a wild hyena while sleeping in a tent in South Africa’s Kruger National Park

A TEENAGER has described the horrific sound of his bones breaking after he was attacked by a hyena during a family camping trip in South Africa.

Erco Janse van Rensburg was attacked by a hyena in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. Picture: Dylan Coker

A TEENAGE boy had his bones “crushed like a packet of crisps” after being attacked by a hyena as he slept in a tent on a family camping trip.

According to The Sun, Erco Janse van Rensburg described the sound of his own bones being crunched by the predator after it launched the pre-dawn attack on him in South Africa’s Kruger National Park in the early hours of Sunday morning.

It’s believed the savage assault only came to an end when the 15-year-old’s uncle was woken by the sound of the boy being “dragged like a blanket” past his own tent.

The boy’s uncle chased the animal away.

The teenager is recovering in hospital in Johannesburg after undergoing multiple surgeries to reconstruct his face.

Rangers at the world-famous safari park are now hunting the hyena, which squeezed through a hole in the fence that was meant to secure the campsite where Erco and his family were staying.

His grandfather Basie Smalberger, 67, told the MailOnline how his grandson was spending the night alone in a tented annex of a trailer where his parents, Erno and Cashandra, and two sisters slept.

Strictly Saturday Daily Telegraph Only.. Robert Irwin's personal photos in the African Jungle whilst he is there to appearon the Network TEN show I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!. Two hyenas. Pic: Robert Irwin

He said: “Erco’s uncle and family were sleeping in another tent next door and the hyena was completely silent when he grabbed Erco because it was only when he started pulling him across the ground by the collar of his pyjama top, that Johann woke up and looked out of his own tent to see what he thought was a blanket being dragged very fast across the ground.

“Johann went to investigate what was happening and then saw the hyena on top of Erco and managed to chase it away.

“Erco was conscious throughout the attack and then was able to describe how he heard the sound of his own bones being crushed ‘like a packet of chips’ as the hyena climbed on him.”

Erco, from Centurion, near the capital Pretoria, was rushed to a hospital outside Kruger Park for emergency treatment, and then flown for specialist care in Johannesburg.

A spokesman for the park, William Mabasa, told MailOnline: “Our rangers are looking for the hyena, but the problem is that we cannot be sure which animal was responsible for this attack.”

Mr Mabasa added that the hole in the fence at Crocodile Bridge Camp, probably made by a warthog or hyena, has now been fixed.

Hyenas are among the world’s most dangerous predators — their jaws are as a powerful as a Great White Shark.

Kruger National Park is popular with tourists from across the globe. Picture: Supplied