A British safari guide who spent a terrifying night clinging to his truck after taking a wrong turn into a raging, crocodile-infested river would have given the fearsome reptiles ‘a boot in the teeth’ had they tried to eat him, he said last night.
Mike Turner, 56, had just picked up the second-hand open-topped ‘game viewer’ 4×4 and was following directions from Google Maps to a guest house when he was directed across a bridge which turned out to be flooded following heavy rain.
In pitch darkness, the lifelong adventurer – who moved to Mozambique in 2011 – managed to wedge the £7,000 vehicle against the surging current before clambering to the raised benches and calling for help.
But he had to cling to his refuge point for 15 hours before a rescue helicopter reached the torrents, formed where the Komati and Crocodile Rivers meet near Kruger National Park in South Africa.
Dramatic footage showed the trained diver being winched to safety last Friday, unscathed but in shock, before being checked over by medics.
Mr Turner (pictured being rescued) was crossing a bridge when the strong current swept him away
Mike Turner had only just picked up his 4×4 open top when he took a wrong turn where the Komati and Crocodile Rivers meet near Kruger National Park in South Africa
Mr Turner’s car being towed away after being rescued from the crocodile-infested waters in South Africa
As he came to terms with his brush with death, Mr Turner told the Daily Mail of his desperate plan had he come under attack.
‘It was absolutely terrifying,’ he said. ‘It’s a miracle that I survived the night.
‘Crocodiles are definitely a serious threat on that stretch of river.
‘The police told me afterwards that two people had been swept away at the same spot earlier that day, and when they found their bodies they’d been half eaten by crocs.
‘I didn’t have any kind of weapon with me. I was thinking ‘If a croc tries to get me, it’s going to get a boot in the teeth!’
Thankfully he didn’t spot any – although a Nile crocodile could be seen sunning itself on the riverbank as efforts were made to recover the vehicle over the weekend.
Mr Turner, originally from Cumbria, ran tours in the Maputo National Park before his previous game viewing vehicle was burnt out in an accident.
Last week he hopped over the South African border to purchase the used Ford Ranger vehicle from Hoedspruit, but due to heavy traffic on his way back last Thursday decided to book into a guest house.
‘I put the location into Google Maps on my phone as it wasn’t an area I knew, and set off along the route,’ Mr Turner said.
Shocking footage showed the dramatic moment Mr Turner’s jeep was rescued by helicopter
Mr Turner managed to hold onto the jeep (pictured) and stay in the back of vehicle overnight as the waters of Mozambique’s Komati river raged around him
‘It was a dark night and the lights on the vehicle weren’t great, and I came across what I thought was a shallow ford across a river.
‘There were no warning signs so I carried on.
‘But the water started coming over the bonnet, and then the lights went out.
‘I couldn’t see where the bridge was, but I didn’t want get swept away and end up croc’s dinner.
‘So I managed to wedge the truck over the side of the bridge against the water and climbed to the back row of seats, which was the highest point.’
From his refuge, Mr Turner managed to ring the guesthouse, where staff alerted rescuers.
But with the water 5ft higher than normal, the volunteers could only watch powerlessly from the bank until an Oxyx helicopter operated by the South African military was scrambled the following day.
He was then taken to a local guesthouse to be treated for dehydration and shock.
‘It was a miserable night for him,’ Pottie Potgieter, who co-ordinated the rescue mission, told The Times.
‘He could easily have ended up left in bits and pieces by the crocodiles or taken downriver to the waterfall.
‘He said he had been following Google Maps and it took him what was the shortest, but obviously not the best route. But he still went ahead and followed it.’
An alternative, safer motorway route was just a few miles away – but was snarled up by queuing lorries.
Torrential rain and flash flooding in western parts of South Africa have killed at least 20 people since Christmas Day.
Extra quotes for Online use:
The initial plan was to rescue him shortly after sunrise using a jetski, but the raging current meant that option was unsafe.
Exposed to the howling wind all night, at one point during his ordeal Mr Turner was shivering so much that he dropped his mobile phone into the water, meaning he had no idea what was planned until the helicopter roared into view.
‘I’m just so thankful to everyone involved in rescuing me,’ said Mr Turner, who is waiting for the battered but operational truck to be repaired so he can drive it back to Mozambique.
‘Africa does test you, but after 12 years here I feel I have a pretty good understanding of what this continent can throw at you.
‘I’ve had a few tricky situations, but what made this one different was spending such a long time on the edge between life and death.
‘My diving experience was a life-saver, it taught me just to keep breathing and not to panic or do anything stupid.
‘Hopefully they will put up signs or barriers to prevent anyone else making the same mistake that I did – the next person might not be lucky as me.’