Man injured diving into crocodile

A man was bitten on the face by a crocodile when he accidentally collided with the reptile after diving through a wave at a surf beach in Australia, a newspaper reported today.

Camper Matt Martin, 35, needed more than 40 stitches in gashes around his left eye and cheek after the incident last week off the remote tropical north-east coast, The Cairns Post said.

Mr Martin said he was in waist-deep water when he dived through a wave and into the crocodile.

“I thought I was dead,” the construction worker, from Newcastle in New South Wales state, told the newspaper.

“It was sort of like when you hit rocks but the rocks had give and movement in them.”

Mr Martin, who is on a driving holiday across northern Australia, said his face was snapped before he hastily retreated to the beach.

He said the crocodile did not mean him serious harm.

“He wasn’t serious. He had all the cards and he played it soft,” he said.

The report did not mention the size of the crocodile.

Mr Martin could not be immediately contacted today.