A 60-year-old woman narrowly escaped becoming a crocodile's breakfast today after she jumped onto the back of the 14ft (4m) reptile as it dragged a man from his tent on an Australian beach.

Wildlife officers said that the woman, who has not been identified, managed to prise the man from the reptile's jaws before being grabbed herself.

Her life was saved in turn by a third person, who shot the crocodile dead as it was carrying the woman to the water. The two victims were said to be in "serious but stable" condition.

A Royal Flying Doctor Service spokesman said that the attack happened at 4am today as a group of campers slept at Bathurst Bay, around 190 miles (300 km) north-west of Cairns in northern Queensland.

He said that a 34-year-old man was sleeping in a tent with his wife and baby, about 50 metres from the water's edge, when the saltwater crocodile entered his tent and grabbed him.

The have-a-go heroine, who was camping nearby, saw the crocodile dragging the man by his legs and jumped onto its back.

Clive Cook, an official with the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, said that the campers had managed to set off a rescue beacon, attracting rangers who were in the area culling wild pigs.

The rangers went to the site by helicopter and evacuated the pair, treating them at the ranger station at Lakefield National Park while alerting the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The two were then flown to the Cairns Base hospital.

A doctor said the two suffered mostly fractured limbs, adding: "They were pretty lucky, basically."

Wildlife officers said they thought the crocodile might have attracted to the beach by bait dumped by fishermen and warned campers against pitching their tents too close to the waters' edge.

Crocodile numbers have exploded in northern Australia since hunting them was banned in the early 1970s. In 2002, a crocodile in northern Kakadu National Park killed a German tourist as she swam in a water hole.

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

• A doctor, a daughter and a man called Johnny
• Mona Lisa's smile may belie ill health
• ‘Parasite economy’ lies behind Greek tragedy