Oz teenager attacked by croc was trying to impress Brit backpacker
An 18-year-old Australian who was attacked by a crocodile after jumping into a river for a dare has admitted he did it to impress a British backpacker.
Lee de Paauw suffered extensive injuries to his arm and said he is ‘lucky’ to be alive.
He was at a hostel in Innisfail, Queensland, when he bragged that he could swim Johnstone River.
He was dared to jump in by friends, including 24-year-old Sophie Paterson, from Yeovil, who he admitted he wanted to impress.
She said: "We didn’t think he would do it. It all happened very fast. Pretty much as soon as he jumped in, there was splashing and screaming," she told Queensland’s Courier-Mail newspaper.
"There was blood everywhere and he just wouldn’t stop screaming."
The teenager punched the reptile in the head twice to free himself before being helped out of the water.
When quizzed by Channel 9 news he said: "Just done it for Sophie."
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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