An Australian man who was snorkeling at a posh Queensland resort was attacked by a saltwater crocodile but managed to escape without serious injury.
51-year-old Marcus McGowan has described how he was able to get the predator’s teeth off his head while being injured.
He was transported to a nearby island hospital before being transferred to Cairns for more care.
Australia doesn’t see many crocodile attacks, although there have been a few recently.
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Mr. McGowan said that he was bitten from behind while swimming with a group of individuals 28 kilometres (17.3 miles) off Haggerstone Island near Cape York.
“I initially believed it to be a shark, but when I reached up, I discovered it to be a crocodile. In a statement, he claimed, “I was able to lever its jaws open just far enough to get my head out.
He claimed that the crocodile, which was thought to be a juvenile, returned for another attempt but that he was able to push it away despite receiving a bite to his hand.
In spite of the fact that “crocodiles in the open ocean can be difficult to locate as the animals often travel tens of kilometers per day,” Queensland’s environment department said it will look into the occurrence.
“Family-owned, exclusive luxury resort” is how Haggerstone Island Resort defines itself. Located about 600 kilometers north of Cairns, the entire island may be rented for $7,600 (£4,063; $US4,979) each night.
In Australia’s tropical north, where there have been several recent assaults, crocodiles are abundant.
A 4.2m (13.4ft) crocodile that attacked a man and devoured his dog at a secluded boat ramp north of Cairns in February was killed by rangers.
And earlier this month, the 65-year-old fisherman Kevin Darmody’s bones were discovered inside a 4.1-meter crocodile on the nearby Kennedy River. This was Queensland’s 13th fatal attack since records began being kept in 1985.
“Problem crocodiles” are evacuated from locations where they endanger public safety under Queensland’s management program, and they are occasionally put to death.
The state’s crocodile population has increased from a low of about 5,000 animals to roughly 30,000 as of today after crocodile hunting was outlawed in 1974.
