Harrowing video shows a crocodile handler desperately clinging to the side of a pool as the hulking predator grabs onto his legs and drags him into the water.
The worker was trying to feed the croc a chicken inside an enclosure at Adventure Park in Papua New Guinea’s capital city, Port Moresby, on Saturday afternoon when he was attacked.
He was rushed to the hospital after being trapped in the beast’s jaws for over an hour but died from his injuries on Sunday morning, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
“He brought the chicken to the fence and the crocodile attacked the person and tried to bring him into the pool,” eyewitness Gibson John said, according to the outlet.
“He was in severe pain but he couldn’t scream. He couldn’t speak properly at that time. It was the pain I could see from his eyes.
“The only thing I could hear him say was, ‘I haven’t done anything wrong.’”
A large crowd was gathered around the enclosure at the park in the island nation in the Southwestern Pacific, News.com.au reported.
The footage showed the handler clinging to the side of the pool and holding a pole offered by a bystander while his legs appeared to be trapped in the croc’s jaws.
Later, another bystander could be seen holding onto the man’s arms from the edge of the pool as he groaned in agony.
Police reportedly shot the reptile before freeing the man, with visitors ushered out of the park amid the commotion.
John said that he was later told that the man, from the Western Islands in northern Papua New Guinea, had lost a leg before he was taken to 3 Mile General Hospital by St John Ambulance.
He had worked at the park for about two years, ABC reported.
The park was closed until further notice and staff who work there gathered at a funeral home on Sunday.
Adventure Park holds crocodile feeding demonstrations which feature staff closely interacting with the animals.
Papua New Guinea’s official travel website describes it as a “premier family attraction, offering a fun-filled day of rides, wildlife, gardens, and outdoor adventure.”
A crocodile in Florida was caught swimming through a canal — with a large dog clamped in his mouth — last year.
“I got a text from a friend that was walking with their baby in a stroller, and 10 feet away is this 11-foot crocodile swimming with a Golden Retriever-type breed in it’s mouth. And so at that point I couldn’t help but go there,” Satellite Beach resident Zach Spurlock told local media at the time.
