A 12-year-old Philadelphia boy was attacked by a crocodile while playing hide-and-seek with some friends during a family vacation in Mexico.
Charlie Buhl and his friends were playing a game of hide-and-seek on the pool deck of Club Med Cancún in June when he was attacked by a 10- to 13-foot crocodile, People reported. (RELATED: Girl Gets Attacked By Crocodile On Vacation, And She Fought Like Hell)
Charlie Buhl, 12, is speaking out after a crocodile pulled him off a staircase near a dock while on vacation with his family at Club Med in Cancun this summer. @janai https://t.co/JkrLu1QMxG pic.twitter.com/NR2S5HAlEy
— Good Morning America (@GMA) October 27, 2021
Charlie recalled one of his friends telling him about a “great hiding spot on the stairs right next to the lagoon,” so he decided to hide there in the next round, according to People.
He was hiding on staircase next to a lagoon when the crocodile jumped out and bit the boy’s leg, pulling him into the water, according the outlet.
The screams of Buhl and his friends eventually alerted a nearby mother who came to their aid, People reported.
“She heard the screams and recognized them as off, not being like children playing,” Charlie’s mother, Jennifer, said, according to People. “[Her family] all came running… when they arrived, Charlie was under the water. They couldn’t see him.”
Jennifer also claimed that a group of men came to help her son, and one of them grabbed Charlie while the others punched and kicked the reptile until it let go of the boy, People reported.
“I remember it pulling me under twice… But when I looked, I could still see the light so I know I was only under for like, a half a second,” Charlie said, according to People. “At the beginning, it didn’t hurt at all. It just felt like if someone grabbed your leg and squeezed it with their hands tightly.”
Charlie underwent multiple procedures, which extended the family’s stay in Cancún to four weeks, but they were cleared to return to their home in July, according to the outlet.