Croc shock! Kids flee swimming spot after huge crocodile spotted hunting nearby
A man has been able to warn swimming kids to evacuate the water after spotting a feasting crocodile just 200 metres away from a popular swimming and diving spot south of Cairns.
Luke Flaherty said Bingil Bay Beach, north of Mission Beach in north Queensland, is popular among locals and tourists and people swim there just about every day of the year.
He estimates the crocodile he saw to be about three metres long, and says he may have saved the lives of two young girls who were swimming nearby.
"When I first spotted the croc it was about 200m away from a small beach where two young girls - maybe 10 to 12 years old - were swimming and heading straight for them," he told Yahoo7.
"After getting them out of the water we went back up on the road to where we could see the croc clearly. It was now heading away from the beach with a turtle in its mouth. That’s when I flew the drone and captured the footage."
He said the girls remained surprisingly calm during the whole encounter.
"They didn’t seem surprised to see a crocodile there. I guess they are known to be in the area occasionally," he said.
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Mr Flaherty, a field technician, said it seemed like the girls felt worse off for the turtle than the fact it could have been them.
"You can hear their commentary in the video. I think they just felt bad for the turtle although they did realise if it wasn’t the turtle it could have been one of them," he said.
The photos were posted in the Cairns Spearos Facebook group with the message "be careful when doing coastal dives". Many were shocked by a crocodile being in the area.
"Holy s***," one person wrote. "Poor turtle," another person said.
