Man hides from crocs for 7 days in tree

COEN, Australia, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- An Australian man who spent seven nights in a tree to avoid hungry crocodiles was rescued by helicopter near the town of Coen.

David George said he was bleeding and disoriented after a fall from his horse and trusted the animal to carry him home -- however, the horse carried him more than half a mile into a crocodile-infested swamp, the Brisbane, Australia, Courier-Mail reported Tuesday.

"I had to get off the horse and fall on the long 8 foot-high swamp grass to clear a path, when I fell straight into a crocodile nest," he told the newspaper.

"That spooked me. There were some monstrous tracks and the big ones are never far from the nest.

"I couldn't go back, it was too far and too dangerous, so I headed to the nearest high ground and stayed there, hoping someone would come and find me before the crocs did," he said.

George's food supply -- two meat sandwiches -- ran out by his third day in the tree, the Courier-Mail reported.

"They gave me a Cherry Ripe chocolate bar after they winched me up to the chopper -- it was like a gourmet meal," he said.