28-year-old man dead in fatal crocodile attack near Mexico resort – National
A man was attacked and killed by a crocodile at a popular beach in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, according to reports citing the Jalisco State Police.
The victim, who was a 28-year-old man from Mexico, was at the Marina Vallarta Beach near the Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort and Spa when he was allegedly attacked and dragged out to sea by the crocodile on Friday around 6:30 p.m. local time, Jalisco State Police said in a statement Sunday to ABC News and NBC News Los Angeles.
The victim’s body was reportedly recovered Saturday morning approximately 300 metres offshore following an overnight search and rescue operation at sea and on land, ABC News reports.
Global News has reached out to the Jalisco State Police and the Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort and Spa for further comment but has not received a response.
Jamie Yetter, her fiancé Chris Bury, and her daughter were staying at the hotel and hanging out by the pool when they heard screams coming from the beach, according to NBC News.
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“We thought we saw a guy stuck in a rip current, so Chris took off down to the water and I ran right after him,” Yetter told NBC Los Angeles.
Bury told the outlet that he took off in a kayak and began to paddle toward the man to try to help him.
“There were no oars. There was really nothing at the beach at all to help. We were just scrambling, trying to do what we could,” Bury said. “I was on the kayak right when he got pulled under.”
Yetter told ABC News that the crocodile was very large and had the man “by the thigh.”
“He would turn, and the size of this crocodile, I mean, his head was as long as my torso, his tail thicker than my legs. He was just turning him, taking him under,” she told ABC7.
“He went down, and then, at that point, he stayed down. So I was over top of him, but the water was so murky, and you couldn’t even see a foot down,” Bury added.
The attack took place near the same beach where two Colorado men were attacked by a crocodile in 2022. The tourists were injured by the crocodile when one went swimming in the ocean at night and the other went into the water to help him.
The civil defence office in the western state of Jalisco told The Associated Press that the first American suffered bites to his legs, arm, abdomen and chest. The man who entered the water to assist suffered a wound to his hand.
The office said both men were given first aid at the scene.
—With files from The Associated Press
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