Family of British tourist mauled by crocodile visit lagoon where she was attacked to show it is SAFE
Parents and sister of British tourist mauled by crocodile go to the lagoon where she was attacked to show it is SAFE to visit
- Melissa Laurie’s parents Sean and Sue and sister Georgia were photographed at Manialtepec Lagoon
- Parents arrived in Mexico on Tuesday to be with their twin daughters
- Melissa was attacked by a crocodile on June 6 while swimming in a lagoon
- Georgia sustained hand injury while rescuing her from the terrifying attack
- Sean said his daughter is ‘improving well’ and ‘shuffling about’ the hospital in Puerto Escondido, where she is being treated
- Melissa has said she is ‘extremely grateful’ to be alive thanks to her sister
The parents of a British woman half-drowned in a terrifying crocodile attack in Mexico have visited the lagoon where she was almost killed.
Sean and Sue Laurie were taken to the Laguna de Manialtepec, near Puerto Escondido, by tourism officials to highlight how the nature park – one of the few places in the world to witness sparkling plankton known as bioluminescence – can be visited safely.
Their twin daughters, Melissa and Georgia, both 28, were taken to an unsafe part of the lake where crocodiles were nesting by a rogue tourist guide last week who assured them it was safe to swim.
Melissa was dragged under the water and put into a terrifying death roll as deadly predator tried to drown the zoo keeper from Berkshire.
She only survived because her twin Georgia fought off the ten-foot beast by punching the beast repeatedly in the face as she dragged her sister to safety.
Melissa suffered terrible injuries from the attack including deep bites to her body, legs, hands and wrists – some of which turned septic. She also suffered a suspected punctured lung but is now recovering well in hospital.
Dad Sean, mum Sue and twin Georgia posed for a picture with tourist chiefs and a British consular official to highlight that the lagoon can be visited safely if taken an official tour with a qualified guide.
Mr Sandoval said: ‘[Tourism officials] took a tour of the Laguna de Manialtepec with relatives of the English girls who had a few days ago [an] encounter with a crocodile.
‘For the municipal government, it is a priority to clarify the conditions of this attack.
‘Manialtepec Lagoon has been the livelihood of many families for years and has been preserved as a safe zone for the different tourist activities visiting Puerto Escondido in the face of any eventuality.
‘And we repeat our recommendation that any tourist service should be hired with formally established companies and the safety indications be observed on every tour.’
Melissa’s parents also spoke of her recovery after visiting her in hospital for the first time.
Father Sean said the attack had left her with lasting physical and mental scars.
He said she suffered terrible injuries from the attack including deep bites to her body, legs, hands and wrists – some of which turned septic.
‘We spent many hours with Melissa,’ said Sean, 63. ‘It was a great relief to be reunited with her. She is improving well and is shuffling about the Hospital Angel Del Mar, where she is being treated.
He added: ‘She has some interesting bite marks! She’s also got drains in her abdomen and she may have one of them removed today.
Melissa Laurie’s parents Sean and Sue and her sister Georgia (third, fifth and fourth from the left respectively) went to the lagoon where she was attacked by a crocodile with representatives of the local tourism industry to show that the area is safe if travelers go with licensed tour guides
Melissa Laurie’s father Sean (left, with her mother Sue) said the attack has left his daughter with lasting physical and mental scars. The couple have traveled to Mexico to be by her hospital bedside
Melissa (left) is recovering in hospital following the terrifying attack. Her twin Georgia (right), 28, saved her sister from the crocodile’s jaws
‘She has to exercise her lungs because the capacity has diminished. She’s having soup and water.
‘She is looking positive physically but still having trouble sleeping.’
Sean and Melissa’s mother Sue left their home in Sandhurst, Berkshire, on Monday to be with Melissa in hospital and Georgia, 28, who had saved her sister from the crocodile’s jaws.
They landed in Mexico on Tuesday and went straight to the hospital to see her.
Georgia sustained wounds to her hand after punching the crocodile during the ordeal on June 6. She has been a frequent presence at her sister’s beside during her recovery.
A now-closed GoFundMe campaign set up by the family to cover the twin’s medical expenses raised a whopping £43,813.
In an interview with ITV News on Monday, Georgia said that she and Melissa had been swimming at Manialtepec Lagoon with two friends when the crocodile attacked Melissa and dragged her beneath the water.
‘We saw the crocodile and we tried to swim to safety but unfortunately my sister didn’t escape that – so it took her under.
‘We tried to call her name but there was no answer so I went towards my friends and tried to find my friends and then I just saw her body floating towards me.
Georgia (right), who fought off a crocodile as it dragged her twin sister into a Mexican lagoon, has spotted walking near the hospital in between visits
Pictured: Melissa (left) and Georgia earlier in their trip to Mexico
‘I jumped into action with my rescue training that I remember and dragged her body towards me and laid her on my chest and tried to revive and she started going into a fit.
‘And the crocodile came back twice – so I beat it off but the third time is when I sustained the most injuries.’
During the interview, Georgia said that Melissa remembered being dragged underwater in the first crocodile attack, feeling like she was going to drown and thinking her arm was being ripped off.
Georgia explained how a boat with tour guide went past at the right time, but those onboard could not help at the time.
The crocodile then came back, injuring Melissa as it tried to death roll and take her away, but it eventually fled following Georgia’s sustained punching on the nose.
Melissa sustained puncture marks covering her abdomen and legs, along with a fractured wrist, cuts to her stomach and water in her lungs, Georgia said.
She was last week seen walking around the hospital with wounds to her hand – sustained from punching the crocodile during the on June 6 ordeal.
‘It was trying to take her away,’ Georgia said. ‘I punched it in the nose with both fists and it felt hard, like hitting a table, but it scared it off.’
‘No one warned us there were crocodiles there at all. We hadn’t been drinking, there was no alcohol involved.
‘We were just there for a chill-out. Melissa swan off by herself and got into trouble. I didn’t know what was happening but I swan towards her.’
Georgia (left) was comforted by a friend as she left the Angel Del Mar Hospital on Wednesday
The twins and friends are pictured smiling in the hospital following the horrific crocodile attack in Mexico
As she got closer Georgia, a qualified diver, noticed the reptile viciously attacking her sister.
‘I saw her getting jerked around and I saw a croc’s head which was about two feet long. The croc swam off, but kept coming back,’ she said, the Sun reported.
‘That’s when it grabbed her by the leg and got her in a death roll. She went round and round and it was trying to drag her away.
‘I was pounding it, and that’s when it grabbed me and bit my arm. I bashed it with the other hand and it let me go. That happened three times.
‘The croc battle seemed to go on a long time but adrenalin kicked in.’
Melissa was then pulled from the water by Georgia with the help of Moises Salinas, a 16-year-old deck hand on a tour boat named Espatula Rosada.
Salinas jumped into the shallow murky waters along the Manialtepec River and helped pull Melissa onto the boat before rushing her and her sister to an ambulance 20 minutes away.
Once Melissa was on the boat, the extent of her injuries became clear, Georgia said.
‘She had puncture wounds everywhere but wasn’t bleeding out. She was drifting in and out of consciousness,
Moises Salinas, 16, who works as a helper on a tour boat named Espatula Rosada, jumped into the shallow murky waters along the Manialtepec River to help rescue Melissa
‘The thing that worried me was she was coughing up blood and saying, ‘I’m drowning, I’m drowning’. It was scary, and she screamed too.
‘I thought of how I had seen her face down in the water for a long time, so I was worried how much water she had swallowed.’
Once at hospital, Georgia explained: ‘The doctors were worried about her lungs, because they thought she may have got pneumonia from an infection.
‘I had to sign some papers saying treatment could go ahead, which included an induced coma. That was scary, because it seemed touch and go.’
At the weekend, Melissa spoke about her ordeal for the first time, telling MailOnline in a short voice message from her hospital bed: ‘I am extremely grateful that I came out of this alive.
‘And that I had Georgia fight my side for me.
‘So I am very happy for that.’
