A man has been airlifted to hospital after wrestling himself free from a crocodile that latched on to his arm at a waterfall in remote north-west Queensland.
The RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter flew the man from Lawn Hill national park to a Mount Isa hospital where he remains in a stable condition with puncture wounds to his arm, hands and leg.
The man, aged in his 40s, was on a motorcycle tour of the park and had been swimming in the gorge at Adel’s Grove on Sunday.
He told rescue crews he had wrestled with the freshwater crocodile before managing to escape.
An aircrew officer, Greig Allan, said the man was in a lot of pain and the bite wounds were deep.
“The patient told us the crocodile would have been between two and three metres long, so he’s lucky to have escaped with his life,” Allan said.
The rescue helicopter was called to the area about 2pm before members of the motorcycle crew drove the man to a nearby airstrip.
The Queensland Ambulance Service’s north-west district’s superintendent, Brad Hardy, said there was a large population of freshwater crocodiles in the area.
“They are normally quite timid but when they are surprised they will be aggressive,” he said.
This article was first published by The Guardian on 16 May 2022. Lead Image: A freshwater crocodile said to be up to three metres long latched on to a man’s arm while he was swimming in remote north-west Queensland. Photograph: Paul Mayall/Alamy.
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