A family vacation turned into a tragedy after a 12-year-old boy suffered severe injuries during an unsuspecting attack.
Charlie Buhl, 12, was vacationing in Cancun, Mexico, together with his family when he was attacked by a 13-foot crocodile that leaped out of the water and locked its jaws on the boy’s leg.
The incident took place on June 18 when Charlie was playing hide-and-seek together with his friends at Club Med Cancun.
While running around the pool deck, the 12-year-old was ambushed by the large predator and dragged underneath the water. While the boy tried to pull himself to safety by reaching for nearby stairs leading to a lagoon, there was nothing he could do to stop the fearsome animal.
“There was nothing I could do. It was so strong,” Charlie said in an interview with Good Morning America.
Meanwhile, the boy’s mother, 50-year-old Jennifer, told People that a group of men and a fellow mom came to Charlie’s rescue after hearing his screams.
“It felt like I got stabbed. I knew it was real, but I didn’t want it to be real,” the boy added.
“I remember it pulling me under twice, but when I looked, I could still see the light so I know I was only under for like, a half a second.
“At the beginning, it didn’t hurt at all. It just felt like if someone grabbed your leg and squeezed it with their hands tightly. It almost felt like its teeth were holding the blood in because it hurt less with its teeth in [my leg] than when I was on the ground after.”
After Charlie was pulled out of the water with severe injuries to his leg, the devastated family had to wait half an hour for the ambulance to arrive and rush the boy to the hospital in an attempt to save his leg.
Fortunately, the doctors were able to save Charlie’s leg through a series of procedures that saw the family confined to the hospital for a month.
Following the devastating crocodile attack, Jennifer suggested the resort should do more to protect visitors from lurking crocs.
“It’s a massive tourist attraction and there need to be warnings at the airports or hotels. The lagoon also needs to be separated better from the people with so many crocodiles in there,” she said.
Since the incident, the resort has reportedly installed additional lights and warning signs. They also erected a taller fence and offered to pay for the family’s medical expenses.
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