Three men in their early 20s were trapped during the night by rising floodwaters

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Three English backpackers have been saved from rising floodwaters in Australia after their campervan was submerged in a crocodile warning area.



Emergency services in Queensland launched a rescue mission after the men, in their early 20s, were spotted perched on the vehicle’s roof, metres from a sign warning of the presence of the deadly animals.

The state’s waterways are home to saltwater crocodiles, the largest species of the reptiles, which are known to occasionally prey on humans.

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The group had arrived at the riverside area near Gordonvale, about 15 miles (24km) south of Cairns, on Monday night, Queensland fire and emergency services said.

They pitched up after several groups had left the campsite having been warned by a local of the risk from rapidly rising floodwaters.

Guy Bulmer, a fire and emergency services officer who was first on the scene, said: “During the night and the course of the evening they noticed water entering the campervan and there was a croc sign quite close by.

“The signs are not there for general information. It’s quite specific – there are crocodiles there. They went to the roof of the van and [were not spotted until this morning] – they had no shirts on either.”

Rescue teams, paramedics and police went to the scene after the alarm was raised at about 6am Tuesday local time.

They found the campervan half-submerged, with about 100 metres of water between the vehicle and rescuers, who reached them in an inflatable dinghy.

“We had people on watch assisted by the police in case any crocs did turn up,” Bulmer said. “They look like logs so they are hard to spot, but they are quite shy and we were making a lot of noise. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they were around though.

“You’ve also got debris in the water, it’s extremely dirty, so there is plenty of potential for injury and death.”

Bulmer said a four-metre-long crocodile had recently been spotted about seven miles away.

The three men were rescued within about 45 minutes.

“After we got them back to dry land they were certainly grateful,” the officer said. “They had a cold and wet night. They got warmed up and it was happy days because no one got hurt. It can happen to anyone, and tourists don’t have the local knowledge.”

Bulmer said the men “did the right thing” by staying put rather than attempting to swim to safety.

“The worst-case scenario would have been if they thought ‘let’s give it a go and swim’ which would have been a potential life-or-death situation. You don’t know what’s in the water.”

The men are understood to have left Cairns on Tuesday on a scheduled flight.

In November, a British woman suffered cuts when she was bitten on the leg by a saltwater crocodile in Cape Tribulation, Queensland.

The previous month a crocodile was suspected of killing a dementia patient who wandered away from a nursing home in Port Douglas in the north of the state. Human remains were found, along with the person’s clothes and walking stick, near a creek bank.