A 28-year-old man was killed in a crocodile attack at a popular beach in the resort town of Puerto Vallarta on Friday evening as a vacationing San Clemente family rushed to help, witnesses and authorities said.
The attack occurred around 6:30 p.m. at Marina Vallarta Beach near the Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort and Spa. Jalisco state police identified the victim only as a 28-year-old man from Mexico who was in the resort town for work.
His body was recovered around 12 hours later early Saturday morning.
Jamie Yetter, her fiancé Chris Bury, and her teenage daughter were staying at the hotel and relaxing by the pool when they heard screams from the beach.
“We thought we saw a guy stuck in a rip current, so Chris took off down to the water, and I ran right after him,” Yetter told NBC Los Angeles.
Bury jumped into a paddle-less kayak in a desperate bid to reach the man.
“There were no oars. There was really nothing at the beach at all to help. We were just scrambling, trying to do what we could,” Bury said. “I was on the kayak right when he got pulled under.”
The Orange County family’s heroic efforts were not enough to save the victim.
Yetter noted that signage near the beach warns of jellyfish, stingrays and crocodiles in the water, but the family said they initially mistook the crocodile image for an iguana.
By Saturday morning, NBC reports that beachgoers were once again swimming in the same area with their families.
The incident happened near the site of a 2022 crocodile attack that injured two Colorado tourists in Jalisco.
The Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort and Spa has not commented on the latest attack.
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