A family fishing and camping trip in Australia's Northern Territory turned terrifying Monday when a crocodile snuck up out of a creek about 50 feet from their campsite and dragged a 19-year-old from his tent, the Guardian reports. The croc yanked the teen out by his right foot at around 4:30am. "I woke up and there was something shaking my foot … it was [10 to 13 feet] long," Peter Rowsell tells the ABC. The "very lucky" young man "managed to kick it away with his other foot," a health department spokeswoman tells the Guardian, adding that he's "shaken" but in stable condition at a local hospital with puncture wounds on his lower right leg.
Meanwhile, a Charles Darwin University researcher and crocodile specialist says Rowsell was way too close to the water's edge. "The official recommendation ... croc-wise is [165 feet] minimum," he tells the ABC. "People break [that] rule all the time. I mean, I've done it myself in the past, but I don't think I'd do it today, that's for sure." (Indonesia wants crocodiles to serve as prison guards.)