Australian campers cornered by a crocodile

Sydney - Two Australian campers have told of their miraculous escape from the jaws of a crocodile which climbed a river embankment and began gnawing at their tent and blankets.

The unnamed couple aged in their thirties were woken at 3.30 am (1330 GMT) when the crocodile clamped its jaw shut on the blankets covering them as they camped by a river near Kununurra, northwest Australia.

"It's amazing it never got my feet because it's taken the doona (blanket) above me and below me, and it grabbed onto it and was ripping it from side to side pulling back slowly at the same time," the male survivor told public radio.

"He was there, he was pulling us, the whole tent was coming down, we were getting pulled towards the water.

"The main thing was to try and get out ... as quickly as possible before he took another bite because he was right in front of us, but I couldn't see him."

The pair managed to escape without being injured but could not raise the alarm because their car had a flat battery.

They walked six kilometres (3.7 miles) to the nearest main road and left a distress signal asking for help.

But it was two more nights of sleeping the car before help arrived.

District wildlife officer Brad Rushforth said the tent was pitched about 15 metres (49.5 feet) from the river's edge, which was separated from their campsite by a steep 1.5 metre (5-foot) embankment.

The recommended distance between campsites and rivers in the area is at least 50 metres (165 feet).

"They saw that it was a very large crocodile ... acting quite aggressively towards them, trying to make a meal out of them," Rushforth said.

But the campers' troubles may not be over yet.

The owner of El Questro Wilderness Park, who holds the pastoral lease over the land on which they were illegally camped, is considering legal action.

"I will consider pressing charges as illegal entry into pastoral leases often ends in disaster," Will Burrell said.

He said the park was closed each year between November and March because of the monsoonal weather, and people were required to gain permission before camping there.

The incident is the latest in a string of crocodile attacks in Australia's north, one of which left a man dead last month. -- Associated Press

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