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Never-swim-in-this-Australian-river · Crime and Horror

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Speaker 1: Today's story is about a real life nightmare that occurred
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Speaker 1: on a thin stretch of black.
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Speaker 2: Water in northern Australia.
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Speaker 1: This particular story has inspired two fairly popular horror movies
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Speaker 1: from two thousand and seven.
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Speaker 2: They are Blackwater and Rogue.
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Speaker 1: But before we get into today's story, if you're a
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Speaker 1: fan of these strange, dark and mysterious delivered in story format,
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Speaker 1: All right, let's get into today's story. At eleven am
0:58
Speaker 1: on December twenty one, three three young men who were
1:01
Speaker 1: longtime childhood friends hopped in a truck and began traveling south.
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Speaker 1: They were twenty two year old Brettmann and nineteen year
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Speaker 1: olds Shawn Blowers and Ashley McGuff. They lived in a
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Speaker 1: coastal city called Darwin, which is actually the capital of.
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Speaker 2: The Northern Territory in Australia.
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Speaker 1: The Northern Territory, also known as the Top End, is
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Speaker 1: located in the central north of the continent. It is
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Speaker 1: six times larger than the UK, but has two hundred
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Speaker 1: and eighty times less people living in it. Specifically, the
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Speaker 1: UK is home to roughly seventy million people, whereas the
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Speaker 1: Top End is home to only two hundred and fifty thousand.
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Speaker 2: People, and half of them live in Darwin.
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Speaker 1: There are many reasons why the Top End is so underpopulated,
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Speaker 1: ranging from politics to poor infrastructure, but the most obvious
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Speaker 1: reason that so few people choose to live in this
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Speaker 1: part of Australia is because it is wildly rugged and dangerous.
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Speaker 1: It is scorchingly hot year round, and the weather in
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Speaker 1: general is just unbelievably unp predictable and violent, and as
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Speaker 1: the old saying goes, all the animals there are trying
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Speaker 1: to kill you and each other. But Brett, Sean and
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Speaker 1: Ashley had grown up in Darwin, and so they were
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Speaker 1: accustomed to the hazards of living in the Top End,
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Speaker 1: and so they weren't really concerned about them. What they
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Speaker 1: were concerned with was finding things to do and not
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Speaker 1: getting bored in the city. That particular day, in order
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Speaker 1: to ward off boredom, the trio had decided they would
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Speaker 1: head out to a salt flat that was located about
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Speaker 1: fifty miles to the southwest of Darwin. It was this
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Speaker 1: wide open plaine that they could just race around on
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Speaker 1: their quad bikes on, and so they loaded these quad
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Speaker 1: bikes into their trailer attached to their truck. They hopped
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Speaker 1: in their truck and at eleven forty am they started
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Speaker 1: heading south out of Darwin. The first road they were
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Speaker 1: on was this fairly desolate dirt road that wound around
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Speaker 1: through the wilderness and it passed by the iconic eucalyptus
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Speaker 1: trees that are very well known in Australia. It passed
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Speaker 1: by palm trees and giant termite mounds. And after driving
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Speaker 1: on this dirt road for about thirty minutes, the trio
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Speaker 1: passed by the Tumbling Waters Holiday Park, which is a
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Speaker 1: vacation resort for adventurous families. And then beyond this park
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Speaker 1: there really was no more civilization. They were headed right
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Speaker 1: into the outback of Australia, and so this was kind
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Speaker 1: of like the last mark of civilization. And so the
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Speaker 1: trio they drive for another thirty minutes past the park
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Speaker 1: and at some point all of the trees on either
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Speaker 1: side of the road start getting more and more dense,
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Speaker 1: until they begin kind of encroaching over the road, as
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Speaker 1: if it looks like you're driving directly through the heart
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Speaker 1: of a jungle. And they would have recognized this change
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Speaker 1: in scenery as meaning they were nearing the Phinnis River,
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Speaker 1: which was off to the right beyond all of the trees,
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Speaker 1: so they couldn't see it, but they knew they were close.
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Speaker 1: And the Finnis River was not a huge waterway. It
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Speaker 1: was a thirty mile stretch that ran east to west
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Speaker 1: through the top end, and what it was known for
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Speaker 1: was being very brackish and dark.
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Speaker 2: You could not see.
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Speaker 1: Into this water more than maybe an inch or two,
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Speaker 1: so it almost appeared black. And so the trio continued
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Speaker 1: driving along through this kind of jungle atmosphere until the
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Speaker 1: left side of the road began to thin out again,
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Speaker 1: and then it eventually revealed the salt flats up to
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Speaker 1: their left, and so at that point the trio pulled
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Speaker 1: off on the right side of the road where the
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Speaker 1: vegetation was still very thick, and then the trio hopped
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Speaker 1: out of the truck.
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Speaker 2: They went around to the trailer. They dropped the gate, and.
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Speaker 1: One by one they pulled their quad bikes off, and
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Speaker 1: then each of them hopped on and drove out onto
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Speaker 1: the flats. That day, the flats were actually very muddy
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Speaker 1: because it had recently rained really really heavy in that area,
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Speaker 1: and so the trio spent just as much time racing
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Speaker 1: each other on the flats as they did trying to
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Speaker 1: drive close to each other and spray mud on each other.
4:36
Speaker 1: And so for hours they were out there having a
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Speaker 1: great time, and then at four point thirty pm they
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Speaker 1: decided it was time to call it a day, and
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Speaker 1: so they drove back over to the truck. They drove
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Speaker 1: their quad bikes up onto the trailer, they locked it,
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Speaker 1: and then they were about to get into the truck
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Speaker 1: to head back home when one of them suggested, Hey,
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Speaker 1: let's head down to the water and rinse our clothes
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Speaker 1: off and get all this mud off of us. Now
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Speaker 1: you need to understand in the top end the pl
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Speaker 1: place you want to spend the least amount of time
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Speaker 1: in is the water. People in the top end assume
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Speaker 1: that in any natural water body that is not clearly
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Speaker 1: designated as a swimming area has at least one animal
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Speaker 1: working in it that will kill you. This is a
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Speaker 1: literal precaution people in the top end take. And so
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Speaker 1: this section of the Finnis River that these three friends
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Speaker 1: were thinking about going and jumping into and washing off
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Speaker 1: inside of this was not a clearly designated swimming area,
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Speaker 1: and so it should be avoided. But you need to
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Speaker 1: remember these three guys, they grew up in the Top End.
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Speaker 1: They were used to living in this kind of wild area,
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Speaker 1: and they'd also come to the salt flat so many
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Speaker 1: times over the years, and they had jumped into the
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Speaker 1: Finnis River before to wash off and go swimming, and
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Speaker 1: nothing had ever happened, and so really the idea that
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Speaker 1: the Phinis River could be dangerous to them it didn't
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Speaker 1: really cross their mind. They felt like, you know what,
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Speaker 1: we've been there, done that nothing's going to happen to us.
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Speaker 1: They left the truck and walked away from the salt
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Speaker 1: flats into this mangrove forest that's only a couple of
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Speaker 1: feet off the road, and began.
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Speaker 2: Walking towards this river.
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Speaker 1: Normally, the trip from the road through the forest to
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Speaker 1: the river bank basically where the forest ended and you
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Speaker 1: reached the river, it would take about ten minutes. But
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Speaker 1: after walking in this mangrove for maybe a minute, they
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Speaker 1: were already standing in river water. It was only a
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Speaker 1: couple of inches of this water, but it signaled to
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Speaker 1: the guys that clearly the river is very swollen from
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Speaker 1: all of the recent rains, enough so that it overflowed
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Speaker 1: beyond its natural boundaries and it's flooded the mangrove forest.
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Speaker 1: But the three guys they look at each other and think, man,
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Speaker 1: what's the big deal.
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Speaker 2: I'm sure we'll be fine. And so the guys continued
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Speaker 2: moving on.
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Speaker 1: But as the mangroves began to thin out, they began
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Speaker 1: to slow down dramatically, because the river banks on the
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Speaker 1: edges of the thinnest.
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Speaker 2: River were very, very steep.
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Speaker 1: If you were standing on dry land, if there was
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Speaker 1: no flooding, and you were right on the edge of
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Speaker 1: the Finnis River, if you took even one or two
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Speaker 1: steps into the river, you would slip down under the
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Speaker 1: water and the water would be over your head. Now,
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Speaker 1: as these guys are walking. Because the ground is flooded
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Speaker 1: with this black, brackish water, they couldn't see the.
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Speaker 2: Ground, and so they couldn't.
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Speaker 1: Tell where the drop off into the river was, and
7:19
Speaker 1: so they began to slow down. And then when all
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Speaker 1: the trees were practically gone, they knew they were close.
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Speaker 1: And then one of them actually slipped and kind of
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Speaker 1: tumbled down the edge for a second, but he turned
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Speaker 1: and he grabbed one of the roots of the mangrove
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Speaker 1: tree and pulled himself back up, and then the other
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Speaker 1: two after seeing this, they walked over and stood next
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Speaker 1: to him, and the trio just stood there looking out
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Speaker 1: at this pitch black looking river that was very clearly
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Speaker 1: moving faster than normal because.
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Speaker 2: Of all this excess rain.
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Speaker 1: But they kind of looked at each other and thought,
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Speaker 1: you know what, it's not that big of a deal.
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Speaker 1: You know, we'll hold on to the roots of these
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Speaker 1: mangroves and lower ourselves over the embankment.
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Speaker 2: We'll wash ourselves off, pull ourselves back up. No big deal.
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Speaker 1: And so they each turned around and grabbed a root
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Speaker 1: of one of the many mango trees that marked the
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Speaker 1: edge of this forest, and while holding on, they would
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Speaker 1: lower their lower half down past the embankment until they
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Speaker 1: were submerged. They rubbed all the mud off of themselves,
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Speaker 1: being very careful not to let go of the mangrove
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Speaker 1: at any point. And then as they were about to
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Speaker 1: finish up and pull themselves back up and get back
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Speaker 1: to their truck, Brett loses his balance and somehow lets
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Speaker 1: go of the mangrove route and slips down the steep
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Speaker 1: embankment and suddenly the current takes him away from his
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Speaker 1: friends and out to the middle of this river, and
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Speaker 1: before long he's getting pulled downstream, and so he yells
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Speaker 1: out to Ashley and Sean, who had their backs.
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Speaker 2: Turned to him.
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Speaker 1: They turn around, they see their friend, and they instinctively
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Speaker 1: leap into the river to try to go get him
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Speaker 1: and help swim him back to the side. Now, all
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Speaker 1: three of them were very competent swimmers, and so this
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Speaker 1: was not a high panic situation. This was more like
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Speaker 1: a inconvenience and maybe a little bit funny, And so
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Speaker 1: that's why they left in no problem. They figured, you know,
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Speaker 1: worst case scenario is, we'll drift somewhere down there and
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Speaker 1: we'll get out and we'll walk.
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Speaker 2: Our way back to our car.
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Speaker 1: But as soon as Sean and Ashley were free floating
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Speaker 1: in this river, they felt how strong this current was,
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Speaker 1: and it was way stronger than they were anticipating, and
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Speaker 1: so they actually started.
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Speaker 2: To get a little bit worried.
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Speaker 1: And they looked up ahead of them, and Brett, who
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Speaker 1: had been in the water for you know, ten or
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Speaker 1: fifteen seconds before they leapt in, he had already moved
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Speaker 1: way farther downstream than them, and so they decided, you
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Speaker 1: know what, we have to get out, but we need
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Speaker 1: to get to Brett first. We all need to get
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Speaker 1: out at the same place. And so they decide they're
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Speaker 1: going to swim downstream, meet up with Brett, and then
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Speaker 1: get the heck out of that river as fast as
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Speaker 1: they possibly can. And so they yell out to Brett
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Speaker 1: to hey, we're coming to get you, and they start
9:37
Speaker 1: swimming as fast as they possibly can, and with the
9:39
Speaker 1: help of the current, they managed to get all the
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Speaker 1: way up to Brett relatively quickly, maybe a couple of minutes.
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Speaker 1: And when they reach him, Sean and Ashley go in
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Speaker 1: front of Brett, and then the three of them they
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Speaker 1: stop actively swimming and they allow the current to just
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Speaker 1: kind of carry them downstream, and as they're drifting, they
9:54
Speaker 1: begin scouting the left side of the river for a
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Speaker 1: solid clump of mangrove trees they can swim into, because
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Speaker 1: unless there's something to grab onto on the edge of
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Speaker 1: this river, they can't.
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Speaker 2: Pull themselves out.
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Speaker 1: And so at this point the trio is definitely uncomfortable
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Speaker 1: being in the water because of how strong that current is.
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Speaker 1: But they're confident they're gonna find a viable landing spot
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Speaker 1: and they're gonna get out of here and it will
10:18
Speaker 1: be a great story. And so Sean is in the front,
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Speaker 1: Ashley is right behind him, and then Brett is behind Ashley,
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Speaker 1: and they're all about an arm's length away from each other,
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Speaker 1: and they're drifting down this river for a couple of minutes.
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Speaker 1: They're looking on the left side for a viable landing spot,
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Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden, Ashley just yells out, Hey,
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Speaker 1: I see something in the water.
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Speaker 2: We need to get out.
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Speaker 1: Five the nearest tree, get out, get out, get out,
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Speaker 1: And so Sean he starts panicking. He doesn't even turn
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Speaker 1: around to see what's going on behind him. Adrenaline kicks
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Speaker 1: in and he swims as fast as he possibly can
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Speaker 1: to a tree that's popped out of the river. It's
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Speaker 1: literally growing in the middle of the river, and so
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Speaker 1: he swims up to this tree. He manages to climb
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Speaker 1: up to the first fork of the tree, which is
10:56
Speaker 1: maybe six or eight feet above the water. And as
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Speaker 1: soon as he's up there, he turns around and looks
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Speaker 1: down and he sees Ashley. He reaches down and he
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Speaker 1: hoists Ashley up to the first four with him, and
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Speaker 1: then the pair turn around again to grab Brett, but
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Speaker 1: Brett's not there, and so they look around. They're thinking, Okay,
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Speaker 1: did Brett not make it to the tree? Did the
11:12
Speaker 1: current pull him around? Is get some other tree? You know?
11:14
Speaker 1: They're yelling out for him. They're looking for him, but
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Speaker 1: there's no Brett. And so they're talking to each other,
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Speaker 1: Ashley and Shawn. They're saying, hey, did he call out?
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Speaker 1: Did you hear something? Did he give some indication about
11:24
Speaker 1: where he was going? And they're saying, no, I don't
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Speaker 1: know where he is. And so they start climbing up
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Speaker 1: the tree a little bit and trying to look down
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Speaker 1: and up the river to see if maybe they can
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Speaker 1: see him, and then all of a sudden, Sean notices
11:33
Speaker 1: something yellow flash beneath them in the water, and so
11:37
Speaker 1: he looks straight down and he sees this yellow thing
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Speaker 1: down there, and so he nudges Ashley and he says look,
11:42
Speaker 1: and so Ashley looks down and as they're looking, they're
11:45
Speaker 1: about ten feet off the water. At this point, they
11:47
Speaker 1: see this yellow thing start rising up to the surface.
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Speaker 1: Now the water is so dark they really can't tell
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Speaker 1: what anything is unless it is at the surface. And
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Speaker 1: so they're watching this yellow thing and suddenly it comes
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Speaker 1: out of the water and they see it's Brett. He's
12:01
Speaker 1: got his yellow jacket on. That's what they saw. And
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Speaker 1: Brett is in the mouth of a thirteen foot long
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Speaker 1: saltwater crocodile. He is face down and his left side
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Speaker 1: is being held in this animal's mouth and he's not moving,
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Speaker 1: and so Sean and Ashley are so scared. They're just frozen.
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Speaker 1: They're just staring at this monster that's in the water,
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Speaker 1: that's holding their friend underwater, and they can't do anything
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Speaker 1: about it. And for two minutes they just stand there
12:26
Speaker 1: looking at this animal, wondering what's gonna happen. And for
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Speaker 1: those entire two minutes, the crocodile stared right back up
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Speaker 1: at Ashley and Sean as if it was showing them
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Speaker 1: what it was going to do to them once they
12:38
Speaker 1: got in the water, that I've done this to your friend,
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Speaker 1: I'm getting you too as well.
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Speaker 2: And so they're staring.
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Speaker 1: At this animal when suddenly it just kind of goes
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Speaker 1: underneath the water, back down into the black abyss, and it,
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Speaker 1: along with Brett, just disappear. Ashley and Sean are so
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Speaker 1: terrified that they can't even grieve for their friend.
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Speaker 2: They can't feel sad for him.
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Speaker 1: It's like they just go into survi mode, and without
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Speaker 1: saying anything to each other, they just start climbing up
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Speaker 1: this tree as fast and as far as they possibly can,
13:06
Speaker 1: and they only manage to get up maybe a couple
13:08
Speaker 1: more feet to two more branches, ones at about ten
13:11
Speaker 1: or twelve feet off the water and the other is
13:13
Speaker 1: at about fifteen feet off the water. And so Sean
13:16
Speaker 1: makes it onto the lower branch, and then Ashley makes
13:18
Speaker 1: it onto the slightly higher branch. And then once they're
13:20
Speaker 1: situated on their branch and one arm is firmly wrapped
13:23
Speaker 1: around the trunk of the tree, they're able to kind
13:25
Speaker 1: of breathe for a second and take stock of their
13:27
Speaker 1: situation and even though, of course the elephant in the
13:30
Speaker 1: room here is that their friend was just eaten by
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Speaker 1: a crocodile, but it's like they can't process that yet.
13:36
Speaker 1: Instead they start talking about, okay, well, our families they're
13:39
Speaker 1: going to recognize our absence and they're going to tell
13:41
Speaker 1: the police, and the police are going to launch a
13:43
Speaker 1: search and they're going to come find us. Both of
13:45
Speaker 1: them were confident, or they acted confident, that that was
13:48
Speaker 1: going to happen, but they also knew that there was
13:51
Speaker 1: no timeline for this. It could be hours or days
13:54
Speaker 1: until this actually happened. And so as these two teens
13:57
Speaker 1: are sitting on their branches, the reality of their situation
14:00
Speaker 1: really started to come crashing down on them, because, yeah,
14:03
Speaker 1: they're safe in this tree, but how long can they
14:06
Speaker 1: possibly stay in this tree for? I mean, eventually they're
14:09
Speaker 1: gonna need to fall asleep. And if they fall asleep,
14:11
Speaker 1: are they going to fall out of the tree and
14:13
Speaker 1: land in the water with this crocodile? I mean, they
14:15
Speaker 1: just didn't know how this was going to turn out.
14:18
Speaker 1: And so as the two began comforting each other, you know,
14:20
Speaker 1: reassuring each other that, oh no, it's gonna be just fine.
14:23
Speaker 1: Someone's gonna find us tonight or tomorrow will be just fine.
14:26
Speaker 2: As they're doing that, Ashley.
14:28
Speaker 1: Suddenly stops talking to Sean and just looks straight down,
14:31
Speaker 1: And so Sean realizes what Ashley's doing, and he matches
14:34
Speaker 1: his gaze and he looks straight down, and at the
14:37
Speaker 1: base of their tree in that blackwater is the thirteen
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Speaker 1: foot long saltwater crocodile. It's back and it no longer
14:44
Speaker 1: has bread in its mouth. They have no idea where
14:46
Speaker 1: Brett is. He's just gone. Saltwater crocodiles are considered the
14:50
Speaker 1: most aggressive and dangerous crocodiles in the world, and they
14:54
Speaker 1: are one of only two crocodile species that will actively
14:58
Speaker 1: hunt humans when given a chance.
15:01
Speaker 2: And so these two teens are helpless in this tree.
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Speaker 1: All they have is some separation from the black water
15:07
Speaker 1: and this animal down below, and so they just find
15:09
Speaker 1: themselves staring straight down at this crocodile, and in turn,
15:14
Speaker 1: this crocodile just stares right back.
15:16
Speaker 2: Up at them.
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Speaker 1: It's very clearly waiting for them. It wants them to
15:20
Speaker 1: come out of the tree so it can eat them.
15:22
Speaker 1: And so the crocodile just continuously repositions itself all around
15:26
Speaker 1: the tree. It's just keeping the top of its head
15:28
Speaker 1: out of the water so its eyes can look up
15:30
Speaker 1: at them, and so the teens are just praying that
15:32
Speaker 1: at some point it will grow tired of them and
15:34
Speaker 1: will leave. And after several hours, right as the sun
15:37
Speaker 1: is about to set, this crocodile does seem to give
15:40
Speaker 1: up on them, and it drifts under the water and disappears.
15:43
Speaker 1: After a couple of minutes, Sean, who was on the
15:45
Speaker 1: slightly lower branch, decides he doesn't want to be any
15:49
Speaker 1: closer to the water than he needs to be, and
15:51
Speaker 1: he's going to climb up to Ashley's branch, and so
15:54
Speaker 1: he very carefully stands up on his branch. He makes
15:56
Speaker 1: sure he's got solid footing, and then he reaches up
15:59
Speaker 1: and he grabs a with his right hand and he
16:01
Speaker 1: kind of tests it and he feels like it's pretty sturdy,
16:03
Speaker 1: and then he puts all his weight on it and
16:06
Speaker 1: tries to reach for another branch when this one breaks
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Speaker 1: And as soon as that branch broke, Sean tumbled ten
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Speaker 1: feet into the.
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Speaker 2: Water and so he hits the water. He goes all
16:15
Speaker 2: the way under.
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Speaker 1: He sinks a few feet under, and immediately he's turned around,
16:19
Speaker 1: and he's trying to swim as fast as he can
16:20
Speaker 1: to the surface, and he's just expecting at any moment,
16:23
Speaker 1: this crocodile is going to bite him.
16:25
Speaker 2: He gets to the surface and he looks around.
16:27
Speaker 1: It's a little bit dark, but he can immediately see
16:29
Speaker 1: his tree, and he realizes the current has pulled him
16:32
Speaker 1: away from his tree, and so, in a panic, he
16:34
Speaker 1: starts swimming and kicking his legs as hard as he
16:37
Speaker 1: possibly can to get back to this tree. And he
16:40
Speaker 1: knows the whole time he's kicking his legs, he's just
16:43
Speaker 1: attracting the attention of this crocodile.
16:45
Speaker 2: But he's got nothing else he can do.
16:46
Speaker 1: He's got no other tree he can reasonably get to
16:49
Speaker 1: that will provide safety from this animal. And so with
16:52
Speaker 1: every ounce of energy he's got, he kicks and swims,
16:55
Speaker 1: and finally he manages to grab a root of this
16:59
Speaker 1: tree that is still inside of and he begins pulling
17:02
Speaker 1: himself with his lower half still submerged in the water.
17:05
Speaker 2: And so as he's dragging himself towards.
17:07
Speaker 1: The trunk of this tree, he's just waiting for this
17:09
Speaker 1: crocodile to bite down in his legs and Finally he
17:12
Speaker 1: gets to the trunk of the tree and he's able
17:14
Speaker 1: to pull his body out of the water, and he
17:16
Speaker 1: clambers up to that original branch he was on, and
17:18
Speaker 1: then he and Ashley work to get him up to
17:21
Speaker 1: Ashley's branch. And as soon as he sits down next
17:23
Speaker 1: to Ashley and he's secure, they both look down and
17:26
Speaker 1: just a little ways away from the tree, basically in
17:28
Speaker 1: the area where Sean had just landed in the water,
17:32
Speaker 1: they see, with the little light that is left, this
17:34
Speaker 1: crocodile swimming right back over to the tree and it
17:37
Speaker 1: camps out right underneath. Sean had gotten out just in time.
17:41
Speaker 1: When the sun finally did set about ten or fifteen
17:43
Speaker 1: minutes later, it became pitch black. There's no ambient light
17:48
Speaker 1: in this part of the world. There aren't any buildings
17:50
Speaker 1: or cities close enough to this area, and so it
17:53
Speaker 1: is truly pitch black, and so they could no longer
17:56
Speaker 1: see the crocodile down below, but they knew it was
17:59
Speaker 1: there because periodically they would hear it repositioning.
18:02
Speaker 2: Itself right underneath them.
18:04
Speaker 1: Also, because it was so dark, the two teens could
18:07
Speaker 1: not actually see each other, and so they began holding
18:10
Speaker 1: on to each other, and then anytime either of them moved,
18:13
Speaker 1: they would announce their movement to the other, just so
18:16
Speaker 1: they knew they had not fallen asleep and were not.
18:18
Speaker 2: Falling out of the tree to a horrible death.
18:20
Speaker 1: And so a few hours went by like this, where
18:23
Speaker 1: it was silence, with the exception of these sounds of
18:26
Speaker 1: this crocodile repositioning itself periodically. A little after midnight, a
18:31
Speaker 1: huge storm rolled into this area and it began absolutely downpouring,
18:36
Speaker 1: and the rain drops that were hitting the river were
18:38
Speaker 1: so loud that the teens could no longer hear the
18:41
Speaker 1: sound of this crocodile, and so they had no idea
18:45
Speaker 1: if it was still down below.
18:46
Speaker 2: Them or not. But every time lightning would strike, it
18:48
Speaker 2: would illuminate the.
18:49
Speaker 1: Sky for that flash of a second, and in that
18:52
Speaker 1: flash they would look down and there would be the crocodile.
18:55
Speaker 1: After several hours of this super intense downpour, the two
18:59
Speaker 1: teams also started to become concerned that all this additional
19:03
Speaker 1: rain could raise the water level of the river all
19:06
Speaker 1: the way up high enough that this crocodile might be
19:09
Speaker 1: able to jump out and reach their legs. But because
19:12
Speaker 1: it was so dark, they couldn't actually see the top
19:16
Speaker 1: of the water, and so they had no way of
19:18
Speaker 1: knowing if the water.
19:19
Speaker 2: Levels were actually rising or not.
19:21
Speaker 1: And so they both kind of sucked their legs up
19:23
Speaker 1: onto this branch and tried to make themselves as small
19:25
Speaker 1: as they could while still remaining anchored to each other
19:28
Speaker 1: and also to the branch, And that's how they sat
19:30
Speaker 1: for the next several hours, just hoping they would survive
19:33
Speaker 1: the night. Finally, when the sun came up that following morning,
19:37
Speaker 1: the teens immediately noticed that the crocodile was still right
19:41
Speaker 1: below them, just lurking at the base of the tree,
19:44
Speaker 1: waiting for them. And they also noticed the water level
19:47
Speaker 1: of the river had clearly come up quite a bit,
19:50
Speaker 1: and so if they weren't rescued soon, there was a
19:52
Speaker 1: good chance that another heavy rainstorm that crocodile would be
19:56
Speaker 1: in range of them, and there was nowhere they could go.
19:58
Speaker 2: They were as high up as they could get.
20:00
Speaker 1: Not to mention the fact they were hypothermic, they were weak,
20:02
Speaker 1: they were tired, and if you fall asleep, you're going
20:05
Speaker 1: to fall in the water. And so the two teens
20:07
Speaker 1: they knew they did not have much time left. Luckily,
20:10
Speaker 1: at ten am that morning they heard the sound of
20:12
Speaker 1: a police officer who was out in the mangrove forest.
20:16
Speaker 1: It turned out their families had recognized their absence. They
20:19
Speaker 1: had called the police, and that morning a search had
20:21
Speaker 1: been launched. They had found their truck and then had
20:23
Speaker 1: been walking down the river yelling out to them, and
20:26
Speaker 1: then they finally did find them. Initially, when they located
20:29
Speaker 1: these two teens stuck in the tree, they called in
20:32
Speaker 1: a helicopter to hover over them and lower down a
20:35
Speaker 1: ladder that could climb back up. But when the helicopter
20:38
Speaker 1: got close to this tree, the rotor wash from the
20:41
Speaker 1: spinning blades it practically blew the boys out of the tree,
20:45
Speaker 1: and this crocodile was still in the water. The rescuers
20:48
Speaker 1: could see it, the boys could still see it, and
20:51
Speaker 1: so there was this fear.
20:52
Speaker 2: That the helicopter would literally send them into.
20:54
Speaker 1: The water to their death, and so they had to
20:56
Speaker 1: abandon the helicopter approach. However, the blaze that helicopter did
21:01
Speaker 1: ultimately scare this crocodile, and the crocodile swam away, And
21:05
Speaker 1: so as soon as the helicopter was off station, they
21:07
Speaker 1: had a boat come in and the boat got right
21:09
Speaker 1: underneath the two boys.
21:11
Speaker 2: They jumped down into it and they were brought to safety.
21:13
Speaker 1: The two boys were brought to a hospital where doctors
21:16
Speaker 1: determined they were physically okay, but both of them were
21:19
Speaker 1: severely traumatized from what they had just been through. As
21:22
Speaker 1: for Brett, despite an exhausted search of that river, they
21:26
Speaker 1: never found his body or any of his clothing or
21:28
Speaker 1: any belongings he had on him, and they never found
21:31
Speaker 1: the crocodile that killed him.
21:32
Speaker 2: So that's going to do it. Guys.
21:33
Speaker 1: If you've found the secret in today's episode, let us
21:36
Speaker 1: know in the comment section what it is and where
21:38
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21:40
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21:42
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21:44
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21:47
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21:49
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21:52
Speaker 1: cup o noodles in the microwave for about seventy seven
21:55
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21:57
Speaker 1: paper cup.
21:58
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22:58
Speaker 2: See you, Yeah,