10-year-old girl survives crocodile bite

A 10-year-old girl was recovering in hospital after a crocodile bit her leg in northern Australia, police said today.

She was attacked while playing by herself in a waterhole at a remote Aboriginal settlement in Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory on Saturday afternoon.

“The girl then managed to pull away from the crocodile and seek assistance from her family who was nearby,” the spokesman said.

The reptile’s exact size was unknown, but it was thought to be small.

The girl was taken to a nearby health clinic and then to a hospital in the territory’s capital, Darwin, where her condition was “satisfactory”.

Crocodiles live in rivers and estuaries all around northern Australia, occasionally attacking swimmers.