California teen grateful to be alive after crocodile drags her underwater at Mexico resort

An 18-year-old Californian is grateful to be alive after nearly being devoured by a crocodile during a late-night swim at her Mexico resort.

Recent high school grad Kiana Hummel of Marin County, Calif., was celebrating at the Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort & Spa in Puerto Vallarta before heading to college in the fall when she and a friend went for a nighttime dip in the ocean just before midnight.

Before they even had a chance to hit the water, though, a 12-foot croc emerged, grabbed her right leg and yanked her into the water, she told KGO-TV this week from her hospital bed in Marin County.

Pulled under twice, Hummel almost didn’t make it home.

Thanks to bystanders who fought the animal off — and an enterprising resort employee who bashed it with a chunk of wood — Hummel is recuperating in a hospital, though she suffered severe tendon and muscle injuries.

CROCODILE ATTACK: A Bay Area teenager vacationing in Puerto Vallarta was attacked and dragged into the ocean by a 12ft crocodile. This happened at the Marriott resort.

Thankfully, Kiana Hummel survived. She is currently undergoing surgery at Marin General. pic.twitter.com/jtEMHncaxY

— Liz Kreutz (@ABCLiz) July 27, 2021

“It was most definitely one of the craziest, scariest things I’ve ever experienced,” bystander Sarah Laney, one of those who played a terrifying tug of war with the animal as it gripped the teen, told KGO. “Honestly, I will never forget it when the crocodile’s head came above water. I just went into shock.”

Hummel recounted remaining calm, pummeling the animal as she got dragged underwater the first time. Freeing her right leg, she thought she had escaped. Then it came for her left.

“It didn’t want to give up,” the teen told NBC News. “It (first) went for my right leg and pulled me under the water, and then went for my left leg and pulled me back into the water again.”

This time, she had her doubts.

“I didn’t think I was getting out that second time,” Hummel told KGO from her hospital bed at MarinHealth Medical Center. “That was just really bad.”

When tussling with the ravenous reptile didn’t work, the rescuers changed tactics.

“After about 30 seconds of reevaluating the situation we all decided we needed to start throwing things at it. It wasn’t letting go,” Laney told KGO. “We were throwing shoes, we were throwing rocks, we were throwing anything we could find, but it wasn’t anything big enough.”

Enter a hotel employee wielding a hunk of wood, bashing the croc until it relinquished its grip, NBC News said.

The resort said warning signs were in place, but Hummel’s friend, her mother and the good Samaritans who saved her life said the signs were not that obvious, were badly lit and were posted only in Spanish, 20 feet from the main entrance, her friend Natalie wrote on TripAdvisor in a searing review of the resort.

A resort spokesperson told NBC News that warnings are indeed posted, along with night patrols and red flags.

“We are aware of the incident,” spokeswoman Kerstin Sachl for Marriott properties of the Caribbean and Latin America, told NBC News. “We review our plans and procedures often and work closely with the appropriate authorities on an ongoing basis. Our staff is trained in how to respond to safety matters appropriately. We encourage all guests to be vigilant for their safety.”

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