Diver survives after getting head stuck in crocodile’s mouth in Australia

A man has been bitten on the head by a crocodile as he dove into the sea north of Queensland, Australia’s northeastern state, escaping the unusual attack by opening the reptile’s jaws.

Marcus McGowan, an enthusiastic surfer and scuba diver, was diving with his wife and a group of friends near a remote island on the northern tip of the country, when he noticed that something had “clamped its jaws around my head”.

In a statement on Tuesday, McGowan said he immediately thought he was bitten by a shark, “but when I reached out I realized it was a crocodile.”

“I managed to open its jaws just enough to get my head out,” recalled the Gold Coast resident, who said the alligator attacked him again, but he managed to push it away with his hand.

The boat that took McGowan’s group to the dive site near the Charles Hardy Islands, about 25 miles offshore, heard their screams and came to their rescue.

McGowan was rushed to Haggerston, a tourist island about 45 minutes away, before being airlifted to a regional hospital. He suffered cuts and puncture wounds to his head and hands.

“I was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’m grateful it was me and not one of the children or women in the group,” he said in the statement.

McGowan said the attack happened so quickly that he was unable to look at the crocodile, but he believes it was a young one, around eight to three meters long.

Saltwater crocodiles can grow up to six meters long and weigh up to 1,000 kilograms, according to the Australia Zoo.

Known locally as “salties,” (“salted” in Portuguese), the reptiles are most commonly found in the warmer northern regions of the country. According to federal government estimates, there are around 100,000 saltwater crocodiles in Australia.

Crocodiles have been sighted on nine occasions in Cook Shire on Cape York, an Australian peninsula, since the beginning of this year, according to the Queensland government.