World Scene: Australia

Crocs make man stay on tree

An Australian man yesterday described spending 12 hours clinging to a tree branch as crocodiles circled beneath him after his boat ran aground.

Stan Martell said he climbed the tree after he fell asleep while out on a boat on the crocodile-infested Lynne River in the north of Western Australia state, and awoke to find the boat jammed under a tree and filled with water. Martell said he spent Friday night in fear that the tree branch would break. "I crawled up as high as I could, and just sat there like a koala bear all night," he told national broadcaster ABC. "I saw two crocs right where I was I just sat there watching my boat and thinking, I can't believe this has just happened." Martell said rescuers found him the next morning after he activated his satellite phone and emergency radio beacon.