Story at a glance:
- Hummel and her friend were staying at the Marriott resort in Puerto Vallarta when they decided to go out for a nighttime ocean swim.
- Before Hummel and company managed to get in the water, the crocodile emerged from the dark and bit Hummel’s leg.
- Hummel managed to fight the animal off.
A California teenage girl was dragged by a crocodile twice while on vacation in Mexico.
Kiana Hummel and her friend were staying at the Marriott resort in Puerto Vallarta when they decided to go out for a nighttime ocean swim, ABC 7 News via KGO reported.
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What they did not know was that there was a crocodile lurking in the water.
Before Hummel and company managed to get in the water, the crocodile emerged from the dark and bit Hummel’s right leg.
American Crocodile, La Manzanilla, Jalisco, Mexico / CREDIT: Tomás Castelazo, wikimedia.org, curid=5385852
Hummel said she broke free from the crocodile’s grip after repeatedly punching it, but it was futile because the crocodile came back, bit her on the same leg and dragged her deeper into the water.
“I just remember saying, please don’t leave me,” Hummel recalled in an interview with the news station.
“And I didn’t think I was getting out that second time. That was just really bad.”
Luckily for Hummel, witnesses saw her confrontation and came to her rescue.
“It was most definitely one of the craziest, scariest things I’ve ever experienced,” Sarah Laney, one of the bystanders, told KGO. “I will never forget it when the crocodile’s head came above water. I just went into shock.”
The 18-year-old’s legs have severe damage in her muscle and tissue and are currently unable to walk.
Her mother, Ariana Martinez, flew to Puerto Vallarta, after Hummel called her following the attack. Hummel waited about 45 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.
Hummel went back to California where she was hospitalized at Marin General and is expected to get a second surgery.
Hummel, her mother and the bystander believe the Marriott Hummel and friend were staying at should have warned guests about the dangers of crocodiles.
However, Marriott spokesperson Kerstin Sachl told KGO the paperwork guests have to sign makes note of their security team, saying, “The safety and security of our guests and associates are our top priority, and we can confirm that appropriate signage, as well as night patrolling and red flags were and are properly in place,” said Sachl.
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