A Danish tourist had to be treated for deep cuts to his arm after being attacked by a crocodile in Australia, after he accidentally fell on it.

A Danish backpacker was attacked by a crocodile after accidentally "body slamming" the reptile in Western Australia.

Johnny Bonde received deep cuts to his right arm, after the freshwater crocodile attacked him at Lake Kununurra on Friday, The West Australian reported.

The 27-year-old told the paper he saw the crocodile in the water and positioned himself on a bank so he could take a photo, when he lost his footing.

"Next thing I know I'm sliding down the bank and then I just toppled over and landed straight on top of the croc," he said.

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"I pretty much body slammed him. If somebody body slammed me at night, I would be angry too."

"He got a pretty good grip on me and shook me around a bit.

"There was just splashing and I could feel a bit of pain in my arm. It wasn't that bad though - I was more shocked than anything."

Bonde said he initially tried to shrug off the incident but soon realised he'd need to be treated in hospital when the wound would not stop bleeding.

He told the West Australian his first thought after being attacked was what his girlfriend would think.

"It was the result of me being stupid," Bonde told the Perth-based Sunday Times.

A local doctor said these types of injuries were not uncommon in the region but usually came about when people accidentally strayed into a freshwater crocodile's territory.

Freshwater crocodiles can grow up to 3 metres.

Crocodile attacks in Australia are not uncommon. A Waikato woman died after going swimming in crocodile-infested waters in Queensland earlier this year.

And last week a tour guide almost lost his arm to a crocodile after it leaped out of a lake in the Northern Territory and snapped at him as he leaned over the side of a boat.