MATES Bruce Kimber and Michael Street were setting up camp at Wangi Falls in Litchfield National Park when an ambulance and several paramedics raced past.
Their presence was a surprise for the travellers from Lake Macquarie, considering they were in the middle of Northern Territory bushland.
"Word quickly spread that a man had been bitten by a crocodile while swimming in the waterhole," Mr Kimber from Valentine told the Newcastle Herald.
"We walked down to the waterhole and there was a crowd watching the pool which had been closed by rangers. Shortly after we saw the crocodile surface just below the waterfall. It was about two metres long."
Mr Street, from Jewells, said as soon as they spotted the croc they alerted rangers to its position.
"He looked a good size," he said.
The paramedics were called to the popular tourist location about 11.30am Monday. A 67-year-old man was swimming when he was attacked, suffering non-life threatening injuries to his arm and back.
"Locals thought it was a freshwater crocodile and were surprised that these normally docile creatures would bite someone," he said.
"Later we saw rangers setting up a cage to trap the crocodile. During the evening we heard three gunshots and this morning we learned rangers had in fact shot a saltwater crocodile in the waterhole. Apparently they are more likely to bite and cannot be relocated."
The NT Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security closed the waterhole following the incident and it remained shut to tourists on Tuesday.
Holidaying police officer Senior Constable Taneka Starr was in the water at the time with her family and was the first person to help the injured man at the scene.
"My family and children were swimming in the water when people started yelling for everyone to get out," the detective said in a statement on Tasmania Police's Facebook page.
"We formed a circle together to make sure we all made it out of the water safely as a group, especially the children.
"We then saw that a man had suffered injuries to his arm and together my sisters and I provided first aid."
According to NT Health, the 67-year-old man remained in a stable condition in the Royal Darwin Hospital on Tuesday.
Mr Kimber said despite the attack many tourist buses continued to arrive at the falls.
"It makes you realise that these animals could possibly travel into any of the waterholes," he said.
"You become a little worried swimming in other pools of water."
Despite these fears the two travellers and their wives Marie Street and Rosetta Kimber, ducked over to a nearby waterhole hole - Florence Falls - for a quick dip.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Join the discussion in the comment section below.
Find out how to register or become a subscriber here.
