An angry crocodile rushed at two people on a jetski at a popular Darwin beach - close to where families were out enjoying the weekend.
The 3m saltwater croc surfaced just after Tony McLean, 43, and Dave Chatterton, 50, had rested for a while on a sandbar by Dripstone cliffs, around 5pm on Saturday.
"We were just kicking around," Mr McLean said.
"When we were taking off, he just popped up beside us.
"My mate on the back yelled out 'look, croc!', so we stopped."
But the pair were forced to race off after the croc made a beeline for them.
"I had to get my mate to hang on because we had to take off - he'd have been right on us otherwise."
Mr McLean said the croc was big enough to jump up and grab one of them off the
two seater jetski if he'd wanted.
"He had a bit of speed in him. That' why we went straight to the life saving club because he was fairly aggressive," he said.
"There were people standing on the sandbar - there were kids and dogs - it wasn't good."
A Parks and Wildlife ranger later checked the area out, but saw no signs of the saltie.
There are two traps nearby but rangers believe the croc has already moved out of the area.
Tony Snelling from Surf Life Saving club in Northern Territory said crocs were known to occasionally turn up at Darwin beaches.
"Crocs have a mind of their own, and they can go anywhere," he said.
He said Darwin beaches were not yet open for swimming - the official stinger season runs until the end of the month.
Source: news.com.au
