Crocodile attack leaves two soldiers seriously injured
Updated: Sep 8, 2021
Two men narrowly escape with their lives in a savage crocodile attack off the coast of Cape York after stabbing the huge maneater in the eye.
Two soldiers have managed to survive a harrowing attack by a 2.5-metre crocodile off the coast of Cape York, Australia, after one of the men managed to stab the croc in its eye.
The two soldiers had been having a day swimming off the Portland Roads, just north of the Lockhart River on Friday night when a crocodile surprised the two men.
The large saltwater crocodile attacked one of the soldiers, a man in his 20s, whilst the second man, in his 30s, managed to prise his friend out of the crocodile's jaws, resulting in substantial injuries to himself in the process, after freeing his fellow soldier he stabbed the crocodile in the eye with a knife.
Local business owners, Katie Goodwin and Hayson Watkin said they had been asked by Lockhart River police to assist with the operation until the arrival of more officers.
Katie Goodwin told the story that the soldiers have relayed to her whilst the emergency services raced to get the two men medical attention.
"One of the guys, he saved his mate, his mate was in the jaws of the croc. They were able to pry the jaws open," she said.
"The croc then jumped onto him, grabbed him by the hand [and] death-rolled him about four times," Ms Goodwin said.
"During this time, he was able to process that he had a knife on his belt, and he grabbed the knife, and he stabbed the croc in the eye."
"If he did not have that weapon, both those guys would probably be dead".
Their boat was filled with blood. It wasn't ideal for transporting the two guys that were badly hurt and they needed support in the boat."
Ms Goodwin said crocodiles were a fact of life on Cape York, but that she had never seen a crocodile attack before.
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was like I was in a movie."
Portland Roads is one of the northern-most communities up on the east coast and has extremely limited mobile communications and road access.
Denis O'Sullivan, Queensland Ambulance Service Senior Operations Supervisor, said the process of transferring the patients to Cairns took longer than usual due to the region's inaccessibility.
"It's a very remote location, response times are extended and the whole incident was extended," Mr O'Sullivan said.
Mr O'Sullivan praised army medics who delivered first aid in the form of a tourniquet to the critically injured man.
