MikeLigalig.com

Updated: 17:10, Thursday, 10 March 2011


An Australian fisherman is recovering in hospital after surviving an attack by a four-metre saltwater crocodile.

Police said the man was fishing yesterday at a creek in northern Queensland when the crocodile lunged at him and tried to drag him in.

The 28-year-old, named in reports as mine worker Todd Bairstow, managed to grab onto mangroves growing on the bank.

He screamed for help and his friend at a nearby pub rushed to the rescue, beating the crocodile with a tree branch until it let go, locals said.

'The man was fishing with a lure and he was casting a lure out into the water when the croc came up from under the water and snapped at his hand,' local resort manager Greg Shean told The Cairns Post.

'The croc managed to snap off his finger but the man was lucky enough to be able to pull his hand away.'

The man then slipped and the crocodile grabbed his legs, trying to pull them into the water, Mr Shean explained.

'He grabbed hold of a branch and yelled for help and one of his mates, who was on the pub veranda, heard him and ran down.

'His mate hit the croc over the nose with a big branch causing the croc to let go of the man.'

Todd Bairstow's grandmother, Gloria, said her grandson had both legs broken and other injuries from the attack, the public broadcaster ABC reported.

Mr Bairstow is recovering in a hospital in the northeastern city of Cairns.

The creek where the incident took place is 'a known croc habitat'.

Signs are being erected to warn of the dangers, according to Mike Devery, of Queensland's department of environment and resource management.

Rangers were attempting to find the crocodile today and remove it from the wild.

An average of two people are killed each year in Australia by saltwater crocodiles, which can grow up to seven metres long and weigh more than one tonne.


http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0310/crocodile.html



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