It is a survival skill that few people will ever need: what do you do when your wife is being dragged underwater by an 8ft saltwater crocodile?

But it so happened that Norm Moreen had that skill in his repertoire and did not hesitate to use it. He jumped on the reptile’s back and jabbed at its eyes to force it to let go.

Mr Moreen’s heroism was credited yesterday with saving the life of his wife, Wendy Petherick, 36, who suffered severe injuries to her leg and thigh in the attack, at a river in Northern Territory, Australia. “Being a little person, I think he would have dragged me, death-rolled me and killed me,” Ms Petherick calmly told reporters from her hospital bed in Darwin, referring to the rolling motion used by crocodiles to tear chunks off their prey.

The couple, who have three children, had been walking in Litchfield National Park near their home in the Aboriginal community of Woolaning when they stopped by a river to wash. “My husband said, ‘Let’s just freshen up’,” Ms Petherick said. He jumped in and I walked down after him.

“Next minute the croc just grabbed me on the leg and pulled me in.”

Mr Moreen, 39, immediately leapt on the back of the crocodile, which had locked its jaws on both of his wife’s legs. “There was no time for fear, you see, when you want to save someone, especially someone you love,” he told reporters.

Ms Petherick was also praised for her courageous response to the attack, after suffering further injuries trying to prise open the crocodile’s teeth with her hands. “I grabbed him by the jaw, on top,” she said. “My finger just ripped on the top . . . trying to open his mouth. I was in the water and he was pulling me under.”

Her husband desperately clung on to the crocodile, struggling to free her before she could be pulled under. “Next thing, Norm is in the water, jumped in and jumped on the croc’s head and feeling for his eyes. He poked his eyes and the croc freed me.” It then swam off. Ms Petherick was taken to the Royal Darwin Hospital, where doctors said she would stay for up to four days. She is suffering from nine puncture wounds as well as the injury to her finger.

Attacks by crocodiles in Australia, and particularly in Northern Territory, have increased dramatically over the past 30 years. The rise is thought to be down to the recovery of the saltwater crocodile’s population, which has grown from about 4,000 in 1971, when the species was given protected status, to nearly 75,000 today.

The reptiles are most likely to strike humans when they have a nest nearby or are defending their territory, as one of the most recent victims learnt to his cost this year. While collecting eggs, Jason Green, who works at a crocodile farm, disturbed an angry female who clamped her jaws around his arm. He was saved only when a fellow farm worker shot the crocodile — hitting Mr Green in the process.

Park rangers, who said that Wednesday’s attack was the first in Litchfield National Park, are trying to trap the crocodile.

Last night Mr Moreen said that he acted like anyone would have done in his position. “It’s pretty scary,” he said. “But you have no time for thinking, you know?”

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Afghanistan News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Henning Mankell: ‘If Wallander was alive, I wouldn’t be a friend of his’
• Secret society's skull and crossbones for sale
• Nigerian leader vanishes after medical treatment