Finis River Teens Escape Crocodile
In December 2003, two Australian teenagers, 16-year-old Brett Mann and 19-year-old Shaun Friend, were riding motorbikes with their friend, 22-year-old Scott McLean, near the flooded Finis River in northern Australia when a 13-foot saltwater crocodile lunged from the murky water, seized McLean, and killed him. The boys scrambled up a tree above the rising floodwaters and watched helplessly as the crocodile later surfaced and displayed their friend’s body before circling back to stalk the base of their tree.
They spent about 22 hours clinging to the branches with no food, little water, and nowhere to go, shivering through the tropical night as the crocodile repeatedly cruised beneath them. The next morning a rescue helicopter finally spotted them, winched them to safety, and left the man-eating crocodile still patrolling the swollen river below.