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SYDNEY - Two Australian men survived separate crocodile attacks while swimming in the country's remote tropical north, officials and local media have reported.
Off-duty police sergeant Jeff Tanswell was snorkelling with his wife, a police constable, and two colleagues in the Torres Strait off Australia's far northeastern tip on Monday when he was attacked by a crocodile at least three metres (10 feet) long.
"He was attacked from behind by the crocodile, which grabbed him by the head and shoulders and pulled him under the water," a police spokesman said.
The spokesman said Tanswell and the crocodile surfaced soon after and Tanswell's wife was able to place their boat between them and rescue her husband while the crocodile swam to deeper water.
Tanswell, 37, suffered injuries to his face and ear. He was later treated and discharged from hospital, the spokesman said.
On Saturday, 27-year-old Kerry York was attacked by a saltwater crocodile while he swam in a river crossing near Kununurra close to the border between Western Australia state and the outback Northern Territory in Australia's northwest.
"I waded into the water up to about my shoulders and, yeah, then a crocodile grabbed me from underwater," York told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
"I didn't even see the croc. I just felt it grab me and it took off," he said.
York said he was bitten on the neck, chest and left arm by the estimated two-metre crocodile.
"Yeah, it did shock me at first, but I realised what had happened and got out of the water quick and then I climbed back on the crossing and got some rags and put some pressure on it and stopped the bleeding," he said.
Crocodiles number in the tens of thousands across northern Australia and have killed about a dozen people over the past 20 years.
- REUTERS
