MELBOURNE, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- A West Australian family has survived a close encounter with a 1.5-meter crocodile, footage has revealed.
The Timms family were swimming in a gorge in the Kimberley region of West Australia (WA), in the far north of the state, unaware that they were sharing the water with a freshwater crocodile.
It was only when Cameron Timms, 14, emerged from the water to find he was bleeding from wounds on his elbow stomach and arms that the family realized something had happened.
Upon reviewing footage from a waterproof video camera that Cameron had attached to his swimsuit to capture what was happening beneath the surface the family realized that a freshwater crocodile had caused the injuries.
"I had the camera on to see if anything cool was happening underwater and it captured the croc swimming around," Cameron Timms told the Kimberley Echo newspaper on Tuesday.
Cameron's father, Mark Timms, said the family had felt something in the water but didn't think twice about it.
"A couple of us felt something," he told the ABC.
"Cameron felt it bump him and then, I don't know, not very long after his elbow hurt a little bit, and had a look and it was bleeding and so he hopped out and his stomach was bleeding a little bit and his elbow had quite a lot of blood coming out of it.
"So we realized something had happened. We weren't really sure at that stage until we looked back on things."
Timms said while the injuries were minor and accidental the puncture wounds on Cameron's elbow and wounds that were "like needle marks up in a row" on his arm made him think the crocodile's teeth caused the wounds.
"The elbow one's the definite puncture wounds," he said. "It's not a brushing thing, they're puncture wounds."
Freshwater crocodiles are not considered dangerous to humans but people are advised to be cautious around the aquatic reptiles nonetheless.
