Man survives Belize River crocodile attack
A forty year old Belize City man almost lost his left arm and part of his skull this afternoon when a four foot crocodile attacked him as he took an afternoon swim in the Belize River near Manatee Lookout at Mile 8 1/2 on the Northern Highway. Egbert Coleman says he literally had to beat on the vicious reptile in order to make it let him go. News Five was waiting for Coleman as he reached the emergency room at the K.H.M.H.
Egbert Coleman
“Well he got me on the first attack, so then I spun around in the water looking for him. He made a second attack and gashed me in the head then I pushed him off, and he made a third attack but I saw him, so I made a second push and I saw him spin over and he dove under. From way back, people usually say when you’re attacked like that you make a lot of noise.”
Ann Marie Williams
“Hoping to scare him away?”
Egbert Coleman
“So I screamed but I still had about twenty feet to swim in and one of the guys picked up a rock and stone in the water. Well I finally swam in.”
Ann Marie Williams
“Where were your friends a this time?”
Egbert Coleman
“At the edge of the highway, the Northern Highway, right under a tree. A lot of people go to bathe there. I understand yesterday four children were bathing out there. I think they should put a warning sign there. If I had a gun I would have shot him.”
Ann Marie Williams
“When he grabbed your arm, what was the feeling like?”
Egbert Coleman
“I just feel a scratch. Didn’t feel like anything. Up to now I hardly feel anything.”
Ann Marie Williams
“And the wound in your head?”
Egbert Coleman
“Well the watchman inspected it, said it’s pretty big so it’s best I come to the hospital, he said it was about three inches or so.”
Ann Marie Williams
“How did you feel, dizzy?”
Egbert Coleman
“No, no way.”
Coleman says he works in the area and was cooling off with two friends when disaster struck. He told News Five that he has been bathing almost daily in that same area for over a year without incident. Coleman has been treated and released from the K.H.M.H.
