Naked fugitive rescued from crocodile-infested mangrove swamp by Aussie fishermen

Two fishermen have rescued a naked fugitive who they found clinging to trees over a crocodile-infested swamp in northern Australia.

Kev Joiner and Cam Faust happened across the man in East Point near the city of Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory on Sunday.

The fishermen friends were laying crab traps when they heard a man crying for help. They followed the cries in their boat and found a naked man clinging to the branches of mangroves.

They said the man begged them for water and told them he had been in the swamp for four days, eating only snails.

“We didn’t believe him at first,” Faust told the BBC. “Then we realised he was in a bad way and done himself a mischief and we were like oh, we better help him.”

Australian TV network 9News reported that the 40-year-old man has been identified as a fugitive from justice who allegedly breached bail for armed robbery.

The fishermen took the man on board their boat, with Faust offering him a pair of shorts to cover his modesty.

“He had scratches all over him, he was completely covered in mosquito bites, mud all over his face and his chest,” Joiner told 9News. “He was suffering pretty bad.”

The fishermen said the man was lucky they found him, as the mangroves in East Point can be dangerous as dangerous salt-water crocodiles infest the swamps.

While ferrying him to shore, the fishermen shared a beer with the man and called an ambulance, which met them on the shore.

Police confirmed to Australian media that the man was a fugitive who had escaped custody days earlier.

He has been re-arrested and is being treated for exposure at Royal Darwin Hospital.

“He’s now in hospital with handcuffs on and two cops babysitting him,” Faust told 9News.