Cindy Waldron and her childhood friend Leeann Mitchell had travelled to Queensland to celebrate the end of Leeann's breast cancer treatment. On May 29, 2016, they were wading in the waters at Thornton Beach near Cairns in Australia's Daintree National Park when tragedy struck.
Witnesses reported hearing Cindy scream 'a croc's got me, a croc's got me' as a 16-foot crocodile grabbed her. Leeann desperately tried to pull her friend to safety but the force was too strong.
Friend's desperate struggle
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."'
Leeann initially thought it was seaweed but soon realised the danger. '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.'
Leeann added: '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.'
Aftermath and search
Leeann was taken to hospital and treated for shock and puncture wounds to her arm. Cindy's devastated sister described her death as 'the worst nightmare' and 'probably the most heartbreaking, horrendous thing that's ever happened to any of us really, in our family.'
Hours before the tragedy, Cindy had sent her father Patrick a Facebook message saying 'I'm on the beach, it's a lovely place, I'm having a ball.' After her disappearance, a huge search was launched. Days later, a gigantic crocodile was caught and killed in North Queensland, and human remains were found in its stomach—what was left of Cindy.
Local MP and former crocodile farmer Warren Entsch said at the time: 'This is a tragedy but it was avoidable. If you go in swimming at 10 o'clock at night, you're going to get consumed.'
Cindy's father, who did not want the crocodile 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.
