Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply |
one of us |
Monday October 11, 4:42 PM Huge Crocodile Attacks Pair as They Camp on Northern Australia Beach (AP) A 60-year-old woman jumped onto the back of a 4-meter (14-foot) crocodile, tackling it to free a man trapped in its jaws, rescue authorities said Monday. The huge crocodile grabbed the 34-year-old man as he slept in a tent with his wife at a remote Camp Melville beach campsite in northern Queensland state, said Ben Mitchell from the Australian Search and Rescue Coordination Center. The saltwater crocodile entered the tent around 4 a.m. Monday and dragged the man outside, Mitchell said. The woman "was also camping there, and she saw what was happening and she jumped on the croc," said Stephen Pemberthy of the Royal Flying Doctors Service. The crocodile let the man go and turned on the woman, pulling her toward the water before a third person shot it dead. The man and woman were flown to Queensland's Cairns Base Hospital where they were in serious but stable condition, Mitchell said. The woman was treated for a broken arm, cuts and bruises. The man's injuries included a broken arm and leg. "They were pretty lucky," said Charles Ellis, from the Royal Flying Doctors Service. The campers set off an emergency beacon that was detected by AusSAR in the capital, Canberra, as well as the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. A parks service helicopter picked up a doctor, went to the campsite and took the pair to a ranger station. They were met by a Royal Flying Doctor Service airplane with a doctor aboard and flown to the hospital. Crocodile numbers have exploded in northern Australia since hunting them was banned in the early 1970s. In 2002, a crocodile in northern Kakadu National Park killed a German tourist as she swam in a water hole. Wildlife authorities were investigating whether fishermen dumping bait in the area had attracted the crocodile to the area of Monday's attack. "Anyone visiting or traveling near coastal areas and rivers, as well as in freshwater sections of lagoons, swamps and waterways, is urged to be wary," said parks service spokesman Mark Read | ||
|
Powered by Social Strata |
Please Wait. Your request is being processed... |
Visit our on-line store for AR Memorabilia