An Australian man was forced to pry a crocodile’s jaws off his own head over the weekend after encountering the beast while “in the wrong place, at the wrong time.”
Marcus McGowan, 51, of Queensland, was snorkeling off the Charles Hardy Islands with his wife and friends on Saturday when he felt what he initially thought was a shark, The Guardian reported.
“I realized it was a crocodile. I was able to lever its jaws open just far enough to get my head out,” he said in a statement.
“The crocodile then attempted to attack me a second time, but I managed to push it away with my right hand, which was then bitten.
“I was able to escape the crocodile’s grip once again and swim to the safety of the boat which was coming after they heard our screams for help.”
The experienced diver was taken by boat to Haggerstone Island about 45 minutes away before being airlifted to the hospital on Thursday Island, the outlet said.
McGowan was eventually transferred to the hospital in Cairns, where he was treated for scalp lacerations and puncture wounds.
The Gold Coast resident estimated the crocodile was a juvenile between six and nine feet long.
“When you enter the marine environment, you are entering territory that belongs to potentially dangerous animals, such as sharks and crocodiles,” he said.
“I was simply in the wrong place, at the wrong time.”
Billy Collett, the operations manager at Australia Reptile Park, told The Guardian that McGowan was lucky to escape with his life.
“Crocodiles are the hardest-biting animal on the planet,” he explained.
“But when people do fight back, they seem to let go. He probably scared the croc which realized it grabbed something too big to handle.”
The area around Haggerstone Island, which is a privately-owned resort, is known as “croc country,” the outlet noted. The Queensland science department urged those in the vicinity to practice “crocwise behavior.”
News of McGowan’s near-miss comes just days after a Cambodian reptile farmer was eaten alive by 40 crocodiles.
Luan Nam, 72, was killed when he fell into the reptiles’ enclosure and was ripped to shreds in an attack that left the area covered in blood.
He had reportedly been warned for years to quit the risky business.
