A tourist has gone missing after being attacked by a crocodile during a late night swim with a friend in Australia.
The 46-year-old was swimming with a friend in the shallow waters of Thornton Beach in Daintree National Park, Queensland when she screamed ‘a croc’s got me’ and vanished into the water at around 10.30pm last night.
Her friend, 47, reportedly tried to pull the victim from the crocodile’s jaws but couldn’t save her. She is currently in hospital being treated for shock and a graze to her arm inflicted as the crocodile brushed against her.
Police have suggested that the two women were not locals and may not have known the beach was a crocodile habitat.
Speaking to ABC, Neil Noble from the Queensland Ambulance Service said the pair ‘felt a nudge’ before the 46-year-old woman ‘started to scream and then was dragged into the water’.
Helicopter joins search for woman feared taken by crocodile at Thornton Beach #CapeTrib @abcnews @ABCFarNorth pic.twitter.com/FhSOINePiH
— Sharnie Kim (@sharniekim) May 30, 2016
To try and find the body, officers deployed a helicopter with thermal imaging, but the search was unsuccessful.
Warren Enstch of the Australian Parliament branded the incident as ‘human stupidity’, adding: “If you go in swimming at 10 o’clock at night, you’re going to get consumed.”
The search for her body will continue today.