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Underwater GoPro captures moment before kid was bitten by crocodile

What lurks beneath.
 By 
Johnny Lieu
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Talk about a lucky escape.

Cameron Timms, 14, had a very close encounter with a freshwater crocodile that bit him last Thursday, while he was swimming with his family at Moonshine Gorge in Western Australia.

"We were just standing in a group (in the water) and I was swimming through the middle when all of a sudden I felt something on the side of me," Timms told The Kimberley Echo.

Fortunately Timms wasn't badly injured, only suffering puncture wounds to his elbow and stomach. "I realised I was bleeding, I went into a bit of shock and didn't know what was going on," he said.

Timms unintentionally managed to capture the crocodile swimming near him and his family with his GoPro camera, although he didn't capture the attack itself.

Timms' father, Mark, told ABC News they felt something while swimming but it was only after the incident they realised it was a crocodile.

"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," he told the news outlet.

It's somewhat unusual behaviour from a freshwater crocodile, which are usually "shy and quick to flee from human disturbance," according to the Australian Museum.

Although it is less dangerous than the saltwater crocodile, its freshwater cousin is known to bite humans if it is approached too closely. *wincing intensifies*

BONUS: Take a bite from this homemade ‘Jaws’ re-enactment

Topics Animals

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Johnny Lieu

Mashable Australia's Web Culture Reporter.Reach out to me on Twitter at @Johnny_Lieu or via email at jlieu [at] mashable.com

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