"We're just very grateful that he's survived this incident because it could have turned out to be quite fatal.
"Certainly to get out the water was absolutely vital in case that crocodile was able to get a good grip on him and do the death roll and then drown him." He added that surgeons were hoping to restore full use of Mr De Paauw's arm.
According to the Courier and Mail, British backpacker Sophie Paterson, 24, said the teenager had been bragging about how he could swim in crocodile infested waters. “He sort of made this claim ‘I’ll swim out and back’, (and) at first we just said ‘don’t be so ridiculous’ and didn’t think he was going to go through with it,’’ she said. “It all happened very fast, pretty much as soon as he jumped in, there was splashing and screaming.”
