Woman from NSW drives into croc-infested river

The Daily Telegraph ^ | July 14, 2009 | Tara Ravens

[myknowledge]

A WOMAN from NSW drove her car into a croc-infested river on the fringe of Kakadu National Park after confusing a boat ramp for a road crossing.

Her four-wheel-drive became submerged in the East Alligator River, about 300 kilometres east of Darwin, last Thursday.

The mishap has prompted police to issue a warning about the ``number and size of crocodiles'' in remote NT waterways, and the need for drivers to take extra care in the outback.

Police from the remote community of Oenpelli were contacted about 9am (CST) on July 10.

They were told the tourist had scrambled from the sinking vehicle and made her way out of the croc-infested waterway.

[myknowledge]

Be careful next time while driving!

[LukeL]

DWW- Driving while a Woman

[myknowledge]

Yes, driving while a Woman. LOL!

Any man knows the difference between a boat ramp and a river crossing.

[txroadkill]

Bummer...does Progressive offer ‘accident forgiveness’ for that?

[LibWhacker]

The stuff of nightmares. Could’ve been worse, though.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Bet she set a world record for the crawl stroke.

[coconutt2000]

The mishap has prompted police to issue a warning about the ``number and size of crocodiles'' in remote NT waterways, and the need for drivers to take extra care in the outback.

Yes, a warning... But how about a sign?

[nathanbedford]

These Australian crocs are among the most aggressive predators on earth-or in the ocean for that matter. They spend their youth up stream until they get to be about 2-3 m long and then many make their way down to the river's mouth where they patrol the river and the surf for prey.

Before my arrival in Queensland for a cross-country dirt bike safari, we were explicitly warned not to go near the surf and to exercise extreme caution around rivers. A teenage boy had stopped his motorcycle long enough to pee into a river and was promptly taken by a crock before our arrival. We heard that a crocodile had taken a driver off the great barrier reef and brought him back to stuff under a log in the river to ripen. The normally cavalier Aussies were sufficiently explicit in their warnings to get my attention. We were instructed never to go nearer than 25 yards of the surf. The rivers in northern Queensland were very wide but clear and relatively fast flowing so, although I could not wait to get the damn motorcycle across, there was no incident.

We also heard stories of motorists crossing the outback in their SUVs being mired by the water rising in the rainy season which can go up several feet and leaving their vehicles only to be taken by crocodiles.

Finally, around the campfire at night we speculated on who would survive an encounter in a giant water tank between a full grown seagoing crock and a great white shark. A Freeper pointed out that such a scenario was theoretically played out on TV. I think the shark won because the crock was vulnerable when it had to breathe.

[naturalman1975]

Real photo, taken earlier this year - not a full grown shark, from what I can recall, but thought you might find it interesting.