Two rescued after croc-infested river crossing goes wrong

Two men in a ute have been rescued from crocodile-infested waters after an attempt to cross a notorious Northern Territory river crossing went drastically wrong.

The pair were travelling in a ute being towed by a truck across Cahills Crossing, in Kakadu National Park, during high tide on Monday when a rope connecting the vehicles snapped.

Terrifying footage of the incident shared on social media shows the ute quickly being washed off the road and swept to its side in the river – infamous for its large population of crocodiles.

The driver and passenger managed to escape from the vehicle, climbing out of the window before taking refuge on the side of the car.

The pair appeared calm as they waited to be rescued, despite video footage showing what appears to be a crocodile in the river just metres away.

At one point, witnesses were heard expressing concerns the ute would be washed away before the men were rescued.

“That car’s going to go too,” one person can be heard in the video.

“It’s filling up with water … they need to hurry up and get them out of there,” said another.

The truck eventually managed to reverse back down the crossing before the two men were to leap across to safety.

A group returned later to remove the ute.

A spokesperson for Parks Australia said no park rangers were present at the time of the incident.

“The vehicle had been removed prior to rangers attending to investigate the site,” they said in a statement provided to news.com.au.

“Fortunately, there were no reports of injury as a result of this incident although Cahills Crossing holds a high density of saltwater crocodiles, particularly on an incoming and high tide.”

“Despite safety signage showing Cahills Crossing is unsafe when there is a strong current, these types of incidents do occur at the site.”

The spokesperson said traditional owners at the Kakadu National Park are disappointment at the behaviour, noting it “puts everyone involved at risk of injury or even death”.

Family seen playing in croc-infested waters

It comes after a chilling video was shared last month of families fishing and a young child happily playing by the water’s edge at Cahill’s Crossing.

In the video, a boy could be seen climbing over rocks in the murky water while several adults stand nearby, with some of them fishing, as a number of huge saltwater crocs lurk nearby.

Tour operator Jack Tanner from Cyaround Australia Tours, who shared the video, described the behaviour as “a croc attack waiting to happen”.

“This family was literally having a picnic on the road with the kids constantly on the water edge and absolutely zero crocodile sense,” Mr Tanner said.

“At this time there was close to 10 visible large crocs within 50m of them and probably another 25 crocs we couldn’t see at the time.”

Shocked viewers flooded the comments section with criticism, with one fellow tour guide describing it as “f***ing ridiculous”.

Another wrote: “Who would be so negligent as to put their kids at that risk? They need to see 5m-plus crocodiles exploding from the waters edge to learn some damn respect.”

“Honestly people have totally lost their perspective of the wild,” one said. “This is totally insane and unacceptable on all levels.”
Mr Tanner said he has regularly visited the area, about 280km from Darwin, over the past several years and witnessed similar “crazy things” happen, with people “blatantly risking their lives”.

He said being so close to large and aggressive saltwater crocodiles, some measuring between four and five metres long, is not taken as seriously as it should be.

“Everything from people walking their children and dogs across the road at low tide, to people slipping over trying to pull in a fish with a big croc chasing the fish,” Mr Tanner said.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – it is only a matter of time until we have another fatality here and it will be witnessed by hundreds of people.”