TWO men who went on a fishing trip with their dog became stuck in their ute in crocodile-infested waters. This is how they survived for five days.
TWO men were forced to sleep on the roof of their car for five days after becoming stuck in a crocodile-infested area of the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Charlie Williams, 19, Beau Bryce-Maurice, 37, and his dog Mindee ran into trouble last Friday when their car became bogged while on a fishing trip in the remote Dampier Peninsula 100km north of Broome.
As the tide rose the two men and their dog were forced to make camp on the top of their four-wheel-drive in order to get away from the crocodiles that was circling the vehicle.
Police were notified that they were missing on Monday morning by Mr Williams’ father after the two men didn’t return from their weekend trip away.
According to a video recorded by Mr Bryce-Maurice and uploaded by The West, the car was fitted with a radio but they weren’t able to make contact with anyone. And with no possible means of escape all the men could do was hope someone would find them.
Mr Bryce-Maurice told The West that the car became bogged after they tried to turn the car around on a muddy track near Hidden Creek.
“We seen one crocodile the first night,” Mr Bryce-Maurice said. “My dog kept going to the water’s edge and the predators soon knew,” he said.
“We could not see them apart from the head but there was a few around.”
They survived for five days and four nights in the sweltering heat, living off rations from the small food and water supply that they brought for the trip before they were finally rescued on Tuesday afternoon by the Broome Police.
Mr Bryce-Maurice said they did their best to keep each other’s spirits high and reassure themselves by saying “only one more day, they’ll find us tomorrow”.
“It was hot, it was crazy to be honest. It wasn’t the best experience I’ve had in my life. We were getting wet every day, our skin was burnt and peeling, it was hot and stressful,” Mr Bryce-Maurice said.
“The crocodile kept going for the dog, swimming around the car when the tide was up. It was probably a couple of metres away. Quite a big croc.”
Sergeant Mark Balfour told the ABC that by the time the two men were located they were almost out of water and were clearly shaken up by the whole experience.
“They were quite happy to see us and obviously quite upset, crying,” he said.
“Being out there for five days in this kind of country and with the weather being quite hot, I don’t know what would have been going through their heads. They were quite fatigued, dehydrated and heat-struck.”
This is this fourth time this month that motorists have had to be rescued after finding themselves in trouble in the Kimberley region.
Online Source News.com.au.
