Woman’s harrowing three last words as she was killed while horrified friend watched
WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT Cindy Waldron and her friend Leeann Mitchell had travelled to Queensland to celebrate the end of Leeann’s cancer treatment when tragedy struck
Cindy Waldron was taken by a crocodile near Cape Tribulation(Image: Facebook)
It should have been a trip filled with joy as two friends celebrated a major milestone – but instead it ended in tragedy.
Cindy Waldron and her childhood friend, Leeann Mitchell, had embarked on a trip to celebrate Leeann finishing her cancer treatment.
Delighted to support her pal, Cindy had travelled from New South Wales to Thornton Beach near Cairns in Queensland, Australia to mark the incredible achievement.
The pair, both originally from New Zealand, were wading in the cool waters in Australia’s Daintree National Park on May 29 2016, when Cindy horrifyingly felt something brush up against her leg. Witnesses reported hearing her scream “a croc’s got me, a croc’s got me”.
Leeann desperately tried to save her friend and pull her to safety but the huge 16 foot crocodile was no match for her and Cindy was dragged away.
Cindy with her childhood friend, Leeann, who had just finished breast cancer treatment(Image: Youtube/7News)
Leeann told 7 News Spotlight: “We just wanted to run around, and that’s exactly what we did, and in the process of doing that, we ended up on the waters’ edge.
“It was really dark. Cindy’s back was to the water and mine was to the beach and we were laughing and then Cindy cried out to me and she said: ‘It’s got me.’
“I thought that it was just that fright you get when you get in the water and something like seaweed brushes past you and so I put my arms out and she took my arms. “I said: ‘I’ve got you babe…it’s ok, I’ve got you.’ She was holding me and I was holding her.
“We were pulled…the force was incredible. And in that, I lost (grip) of one arm then we stopped and we’d travelled a big distance…I couldn’t feel the ground any longer. I realised there was something and I put my hand out and I felt the top of its head. Then I started trying to punch and trying to fight and I was screaming.
The pair were celebrating a milestone(Image: Youtube/7News)
“Then all of a sudden, we were taken again with the same amount of force. I held on as much as I could. I was clawing onto her arm and I was trying to get the other arm up to try and grab her. I couldn’t, I couldn’t. And then, she was gone.”
Leeann was taken to hospital where she was treated for shock, as well as puncture wounds to her arm.
At the time the 46-year-old’s devastated sister described her death as like “the worst nightmare. She said: “”[It’s] probably the most heartbreaking, horrendous thing that’s ever happened to any of us really, in our family,” she said.
“They were just wading and then something like this happens out of the blue. It gives me nightmares to think about it.”
The crocodile grabbed hold of Cindy (stock image)(Image: Getty Images)
Just hours before the tragedy, Cindy had sent her father, Patrick, a message, telling him all about the trip. He said: “She sent a message on Facebook two hours before that happened, to say ‘I’m on the beach, it’s a lovely place, I’m having a ball’.”
Local MP and former crocodile farmer Warren Entsch said at the time that the area was popular with crocodile-spotting tours and there were many warning signs.
“This is a tragedy but it was avoidable,” he told reporters. “If you go in swimming at 10 o’clock at night, you’re going to get consumed.”
The pair were walking on the beach(Image: Getty Images)
After Cindy, who was a photographer, disappeared a huge search was launched for her body. Days later a gigantic crocodile was caught and killed in North Queensland and human remains were found in its stomach. They were what was left of Cindy.
Following Cindy’s disappearance her father and sister travelled to the place where she had spent her final days, this included an emotional visit to the beach where she was last seen to say their goodbyes.
Her father, who did not want the crocodile who had killed his daughter harmed, said: “We need to be here and cry on the beach.”
Crocodiles are common in Australia’s tropical north and kill an average of two people each year, according to AFP news agency
