Freshwater croc bites 2 swimmers at NT’s Wangi Falls

Park rangers at Wangi Falls in the Northern Territory have urged swimmers to be cautious after two visitors were attacked and bitten by a freshwater crocodile at the popular tourist attraction in the last two weeks.

The ABC reports that separate incidents occurred at the popular waterfall inside Litchfield National Park where the suspect is a one-metre reptile. The two bite victims did not seek treatment at an NT hospital, but the second one, a middle-aged Australian man who was attacked over the weekend, went to the Batchelor Health Clinic for treatment of his arm wounds that Tom Nichols, crocodile management ranger of NT, described as a nasty bite. After the lacerations were treated, the victim continued with his Litchfield travels.

The rangers searched the falls on Sunday for the croc which continues to evade being trapped. “We believed he has moved out of the area into a side creek, or there are lots of gutters underneath with air pockets where he could be hiding,” Nichols explains.

A woman was the first victim of the croc, which Nichols says could have been a little bit aggressive because it is nesting season, NT News reports.

In 2014, a freshwater croc also bit a Russian tourist on the knee, although the injuries were not serious. Despite reports of crocs roaming in the park, Wangi Falls attracts thousands of tourists yearly. But the croc in the 2014 attack, measuring 2.1 metres, appears to be a different one to the current one.

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