Tourist attacked by crocodile in Celestún waterhole

Celestún, Yucatán; July 2, 2018 – What was supposed to be a cool boat ride in Celestún, became a real tragedy for Kendra Maritza S. M. who was attacked by a fierce a crocodile in the “Baldiosera” waterhole, in the area known as Ría de Celestún.

Kendra, a 46 year old tourist, went on a boat ride with her daughter Laira O. S., as so many other hundreds of tourits do on an everyday basis along the Celestun biosphere reserve.

Thy hired one of the boats docked in the tourist parador that is at the entrance of this port, and as part of the tour, they stopped in the “Ojo de Agua” to take a dip, just like hundreds of tourits do on an everyday basis.

But to her bad luck, a reptile of the species Moreletti was  prowling the waters at that exact moment, and the animal (which apparently was a large adult croc) attacked the woman, bitting her left leg.

Rapidly service providers and volunteers, scared the reptile away, and helped the woman to swim back to the boat.

They went immediately back to the Tourist Parador, where paramedics arrived on the ambulance 21-G of the Public Security Secretariat (Secretaría e Seguridad Pública: SSP), and the victim was taken to a hospital in Mérida.

It should be noted that this is the second incident of this type to happen in the area in the last 12 months, so tourist service providers are asking to deploy stronger security measures in this area because that is inhabited by a large number of crocodiles.

The “Ría de Celestún” area is a natural habitat for these reptiles, and they are an important part of the ecosystem, so tourists and locals have to be very careful no to invade these animals’ territory, because they will obviously react agressively.

TYT Newsroom

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