Australia: A man fends off a five-foot crocodile with a machete

A fearless man wrestled a massive, five-meter-long crocodile with a machete after it mauled his partner.

Rowan ‘Rowdy’ Sutton and Lachlan McDougall Monk, 29, were retrieving crocodile eggs from a nest near Darwin, Australia, when the animal lunged and pushed them into shallow water.

The creature then latched onto Lachlan’s right leg, dragged him away and rolled over him at least twice, The Australian reported.

Rowan then springed into action, attacking the crocodile with his blade until it let go.

The men’s colleagues rushed to the remote area to provide first aid from an airboat.

Lachlan was then taken to safety by helicopter and flown to a hangar where paramedics were waiting.

He was airlifted to hospital in Darwin, then Adelaide and is now in Sydney in serious but stable condition.

His leg is so devastated that it is feared it may have to be amputated.

An industry source described the near-tragedy as an unusual occurrence and both men are “extremely lucky” to be alive.

“I have worked with many crocodiles in my life and I have never encountered anything like this in the wild,” they told local media.

“No one has ever seen it before. I don’t know how they got out of there alive.”

Both men are lucky to be alive a year after Chris Wilson, 34, died in a crocodile attack.

NT WorkSafe is now investigating the incident.

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