[imagesource: TripAdvisor]

Back in 1999, Lake Placid came out.

The film, starring the likes of Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, and Oliver Platt, followed three people as they attempted to stop a gigantic crocodile, which was terrorising residents in Black Lake, Maine.

Kinda like Jaws, but with a massive croc instead of a shark.

Go on, then – let’s see the trailer:

I’m being generous calling that ‘art’, but there is a correlation to what happened on Thursday.

Fast forward 22 years, and a 44-year-old Queensland, Australia man has miraculously escaped an attack, having prized a crocodile’s jaws from his head with his bare hands.

What’s the connection? Well, this took place at Lake Placid, near Cairns, although unlike many of the victims in the movie, the man escaped with minor injuries.

CNN reports:

He had puncture wounds on each side of his face but was “very, very calm” when health care workers arrived to treat him.

“A crocodile had bitten his head, and in his effort to remove the jaws of the crocodile he put his hands in to try and prize the jaws apart,” paramedic Paul Sweeney told reporters. “In the process of trying to remove his hands, the jaws snapped shut on his forefinger. He’s a remarkably lucky gentleman.”

“Just a few centimeters lower and we have major blood vessels … had one of those been punctured, then it would have been a very different story,” Sweeney said.

The saltwater crocodile involved is estimated to be between one-and-a-half to two metres in length.

The unnamed man has swum three times in a week in the same spot for the past eight years, with Sweeney adding that it was “certainly not a place I’d choose to swim”.

Officials are now searching for the reptile responsible, saying “any crocodile found to be present will be targeted for removal”.

Observe, a Queensland Environment Department official in action:

Perhaps we won’t be seeing a sequel, then. I wish we could have said the same for Lake Placid, the movie, but that was not the case.

A quick search turns up Lake Placid 2 (2007), Lake Placid 3 (2010), Lake Placid: The Final Chapter (2012), and Lake Placid: Legacy (2018).

That 2012 movie is clearly sporting a misleading title.

[source:cnn]