TERRIFYING

Aussie Snorkeler Pries Crocodile’s Jaws From His Own Head

He said he thought at first he’d been attacked by a shark.

An Australian man says he pried apart the jaws of a saltwater crocodile to free its grip on his head after being attacked while snorkeling off the coast of far north Queensland. Marcus McGowan, from the Gold Coast, was snorkeling with his wife and friends when he realized something had “got its jaws around my head.” Initially he thought it must be a shark but reached up and realized it was a crocodile. “I was able to lever its jaws open just far enough to get my head out,” he said in a statement quoted by CNN. The crew of the dive boat that had taken them out heard the group’s screams and came to their rescue. McGowan, who suffered cuts and wounds to his head and hands, said he reckoned the croc must have been a juvenile about 2 to 3 meters long—fully grown, the reptiles can reach 6 meters in length. “I was simply in the wrong place, at the wrong time. I’m just grateful it was me and not one of the kids or ladies in the group,” McGowan said.