Global General

Special

Newsmaker

Asia Pacific

America

Middle East

Europe

Africa

Taxi runs over crocodile in Aussie town

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-19 09:22

SYDNEY  – A taxi driver ran over and killed a crocodile in the central business district of an Australian town Wednesday, police said.

Freshwater crocodiles in captivity in Australia. A taxi driver ran over and killed a crocodile in the central business district of an Australian town Wednesday, police said. [Agencies]

When the driver reported the accident, "police thought he may have been a bit strange or under the influence of liquor or something but it was all above board," said Inspector Ray Pringle.

The taxi collided with the one metre (three foot) croc while driving in Mount Isa in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Pringle said.

"Sure enough when they went down, there was this freshwater croc," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"It was quite severely injured and they looked at opportunities to save its life but the injuries were so bad it passed away."

Pringle said that while there are freshwater crocodiles in Lake Moondarra near the city in Queensland state in Australia's northeast it was rare to have a crocodile reported in the city centre.

Earlier this month floods washed crocodiles onto the streets of two other towns in Queensland, prompting police to issue warnings to motorists.

One, measuring 1.6 metres (5.3 feet), was run over in Townsville. It lost a few teeth and suffered bruising but survived after receiving medical attention.