Police are investigating the death of a young German tourist killed by a four-metre crocodile at a picturesque waterhole in Kakadu National Park, in Australia's Northern Territory.
The 24-year-old woman, whose name has not been released, was swimming on Tuesday night with other travellers at a popular camping spot, Sandy Billabong, despite clear signs warning of large, saltwater crocodiles in the area.
One of the group, British backpacker James Rothwell, 24, from Essex, told of the terrifying speed with which the attack took place.
'About 9pm a group of us decided to go swimming,' he said. 'We were about 10 metres out from the shore, all within arm's length of each other and within sight. I felt something hit my leg, then one of the women went under the water. We got out and shone torches on to the water. We saw two red eyes and the outline of a crocodile in the water where we had been swimming.'
After an all-night search, police and national park rangers found the body of the young woman at 7.15am, about 2km from where she was attacked. They were only able to recover the body after harpooning and capturing a crocodile apparently guarding it.
Commander Max Pope, of Northern Territory police, said: 'The wildlife rangers managed to harpoon a four-metre crocodile - at that time it had the deceased person with it.' He said the presence of a second, larger crocodile made it too dangerous for police divers to enter the water so the body was retrieved with ropes.
A spokeswoman for the Northern Territory Tourist Commission said that while there was an accreditation scheme for guides taking tourists into potentially dangerous areas, it was not compulsory.