'Crocodile Granny' fights 14ft beast

A 60-year-old grandmother jumped on to the back of a 14ft crocodile and wrestled with it to save a friend from being dragged into the sea.

Alicia Sorohan punched the creature in the head, gouged its eyes and kicked it until it released 34-year-old Andrew Kerr.

The pensioner's extraordinary courage almost cost her her own life. After the crocodile dropped its prey, it turned and grabbed her, snapping her arm.

It began hauling her towards the water, where she would have been drowned and devoured. Fortunately, another male friend, camping nearby on a beach in northern Queensland, heard the screams for help, grabbed his rifle and shot the crocodile in the head just before it could reach the sea.

Last night Mrs Sorohan was being hailed a national heroine after her astonishing battle with the man-eater.

Her actions impressed even the most hardened bushmen - especially when they learned she was not an experienced bushwoman but a grandmother from the state capital of Brisbane.

'What this lady did deserves a hundred medals,' said a wildlife officer. 'You wouldn't find many able-bodied men daring to take on a crocodile of that size - or any size - in the dark, let alone a 60-year-old woman.'

Mrs Sorohan and her husband Bill were among a group of friends who had set off from Cairns for a fishing and camping holiday at Bathurst Bay, 200 miles north of the city.

Aware of the danger of saltwater crocodiles, they had erected their tents about 50 yards from the water's edge. Crocodiles swim in the sea and into river mouths and also inhabit the beach.

No one in the area can recall a crocodile having previously entered a camping area.

But at 4am Mr Kerr was attacked as he slept in his tent with his wife Diana and their three-month-old son Kelly.

'I heard a thud and got up and looked through the netting on the tent door,' said Mrs Kerr.

'I saw this croc right there looking at us. I said, "There's a croc Andrew". He sat up and the croc just lunged at him.

'The croc was attacking and he was screaming, saying "Get the baby, get the baby". The croc had him by the legs and was dragging him out of the tent.'

Mrs Sorohan tried to come to her friend's rescue after running out of her tent carrying a torch.

After she was bitten and then freed, other campers set off an emergency beacon. Fortunately, a team of wildlife rangers was camping a few miles away, having flown into the area by helicopter to eradicate wild pigs.

They picked up the emergency signal and flew to the scene of the attack at first light.

By then the campers had scrawled an SOS in the sand to pinpoint their position.

The wounded were given emergency treatment before being flown to a clearing, where a second-helicopter, from the Royal Flying Doctor Service, landed. Mrs Sorohan and Mr Kerr were then flown to a hospital in Cairns for treatment to their wounds.

'That lady showed remarkable courage and we are all in awe of her,' said Dr Charles Ellis, of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

'You don't find many people surviving once a crocodile has got hold of you.'

Senior wildlife officer Clive Cook said: 'To find a crocodile entering a tent and grabbing someone is very unusual - in fact, I can't recall it happening before.

'It may be that the campers had been cooking steak for dinner or had been gutting fish and the smell had attracted the crocodile.

'Whatever the reason, you can imagine the shock at waking up and finding your leg in a crocodile's jaws.

'Thankfully, that lady was around to save the man. What she did, and for a woman of her age, was just breathtaking.'