Elderly fishermen marooned in crocodile swamp

Two elderly Australian fishermen survived a terrifying ordeal in a crocodile-infested swamp after their boat capsized, police said today.

Ross Pennisi, 82, and Phillip Sorbello, 77, were fishing off the north Queensland coast when their dinghy was flipped over by a wave.

Fearing sharks, the ageing anglers clung to the hull for two hours, and then dragged it in the dark – straight into a crocodile-infested swamp.

After they were spotted by a helicopter and picked up, police said they were lucky to be alive.

“There’s a few creeks they had to go through and there’s a few crocodiles in there,” Senior Constable Gavin Oates said.

“If they had been swept the wrong way they could have been unlucky. One of them couldn’t swim apparently.”

The pair prayed throughout their ordeal, Pennisi said.

“The bloke from up there must have seen us and we made it to the shallows after two hours,” he said. “You have not got much time to pray there but we were thinking of him and we asked him for help and I think we got it.”