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Got 1 min? Tourist survives crocodile attack in Sisal, Yucatán

MND Staff
By MND Staff
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A crocodile on the edge of a body of water.
Of the four species of crocodile native to the Americas, three are endemic to Mexico. (Archive)

A tourist from México state was attacked by a crocodile while swimming in a watering hole near the Pueblo Mágico of Sisal on the Yucatán coast. 

A 51-year-old man identified as Joel P. had been enjoying a day of eco-tourism on Monday when he decided to cool off by taking a swim at the Sisal swamp. As he was swimming, a more than 2-meter-long crocodile bit down on his right leg and tried to pull him deeper into the lagoon. 

Joel Sisal crocodile
Photos uploaded to social media showed Joel being treated by paramedics. (Luis Gabriel Velásquez)

Fortunately, his friends quickly jumped in to save him, reportedly fighting the crocodile off with makeshift weapons including a length of rope. Joel was then transported to a hospital in Mérida, the state capital, by emergency services. His condition is currently stable and his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

Photos on social media show paramedics treating Joel at the scene of the attack.

While many sites in the Yucatán Peninsula display crocodile warnings, there does not appear to be any such warning at the area where Joel was swimming, according to reports from newspaper La Jornada Maya. 

While rare, crocodile attacks do sometimes occur in Mexico. In 2021, an attack on a British tourist at a Puerto Escondido tourist spot made global headlines. 

Paulino Ponce Campos, a biologist and member of the National Group of Crocodile Experts in Mexico, told news outlet Infobae that there have been around 400 recorded attacks on humans in the last 64 years, of which only 18% have been fatal.

With reports from La Jornada Maya and Infobae

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