A woman was attacked by a crocodile during a lunchtime swim on Friday in a rockpool with a tour group near Prince Regent river in Kimberley, Western Australia.
The woman, an Australian tourist, was about a week into a 13-day cruise of the 100km river, which is more than 2,000km from Perth in the remote Prince Regent river national park. There is no road access; the area can be reached only by boat or helicopter.
The government website for the national park warns: “Saltwater crocodiles are huge and abundant.”
Jill Moffitt, from Kimberley Discovery Cruises, told Guardian Australia the rockpool was considered a safe swimming spot by most tour groups and it was a “total surprise” for a crocodile to be that far from the river.
“They were at a rock pool which is well above the water line, a place where a lot of tours take their passengers for a dip, not a place where you would expect to find a crocodile,” Moffitt said.
“The group were having a dip and this lady was attacked. But she is OK, she is not in a life-threatening condition, and she was able to walk and talk.”
Moffitt said the woman was receiving medical attention, because, “it’s pretty traumatic to have a crocodile have a go at you”, but she did not appear to be very seriously injured.
It is the first reported crocodile attack in Western Australia since a tour operator was bitten on the leg while swimming in Dugong bay, near Broome, in 2012. There were four fatal crocodile attacks in the Northern Territory in 2014, but no one has been killed in a crocodile attack in WA since 1987.
The woman in Friday’s attack was taken by chartered floatplane to meet the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), which carried her on the rest of the 400km journey to Broome.
A spokeswoman from the RFDS said it was unlikely the woman would require further treatment in Perth.
