A quick whack on the head was enough to free a 19-year-old Northern Territory man from the jaws of a giant crocodile that grabbed him he as he slept in a tent.
Peter Rowsell says he was dragged out of his tent at Dorisvale crossing, west of Katherine, by the croc after it latched on to his feet about 4.30am local time on Monday.
Doctors have since been treating him at Katherine Hospital for puncture wounds to both feet.
"I was sleeping in a mozzie net ... I woke up and there was something shaking my foot, and I woke up and had a look, and it was three to four metres long," Rowsell told ABC radio today.
The reptile only let go when Roswell hit it on the head "once or twice" with his hand.