Authorities say an Australian tour operator is lucky to be alive after he became engaged in a life-or-death struggle with a crocodile.
Sean Dearly was conducting a tour of the Adelaide River on Monday when the huge croc suddenly jumped out of the river and clamped its jaws around his hand.
“‘My god, what have I got here?” the 60-year-old remembers thinking. “What are we going to do about this? It’s hanging off my arm.” Fortunately, the croc let its guard down for a moment, and Dearly seized the opportunity to escape from its grip. “It went for another bite and it actually released its grip — and I just got my arm out as soon as it released,” Dearly says. “So I was pretty lucky it dropped back down in the water.”
Dearly had to undergo surgery to repair a severed tendon and he’s expected to make a full recovery, he says. “I’m feeling all right,” he adds. “I’m a bit sore in the arm, of course, but, yeah, I survived it.”
What’s the scariest animal you’ve come face-to-face with?