Grandmother honoured for wrestling crocodile

Grandmother honoured for wrestling crocodile

An Australian grandmother was honoured with a bravery award for wrestling a giant saltwater crocodile as it dragged her friend from a tent.

Alicia Sorohan, 61, was awoken in the early hours of the morning of October 11, 2004 by the screams of family friend Andrew Kerr in a nearby tent at their campsite on the northern Cape York peninsular.

Seeing her friend in the jaws of a 4.2 metre (14-foot), 300 kilogram (660 pound) crocodile, Sorohan "did what anyone would do" and jumped on its back.

The man-eater then turned on her, breaking her nose and almost ripping her arm off before her son Jason shot it.

"It was pretty scary. But it's one of those things -- if you see someone in trouble you've got to help them," Sorohan said. "He was a big one. But I would do the same thing again."

She still does not have full movement in her arm, which was "hanging by a thread".

"I almost lost it. I've got two permanent plates and 12 screws in my arm. But I can do all I could do before -- where there's a will there's a way."

The family returned to the same campsite last October.

"Why not keep going back? There's risk everywhere. You could get run over by a bus if you walk across the road."

But, she added, "I was told to behave myself and protect the wildlife this time."

Sorohan was one of three people awarded Australia's Star of Courage, which recognises citizens for acts of outstanding bravery.