It was fight or f light... and you must fight for the ones you love

... says twin who saved sister from croc attack in lagoon

THE courageous twin who risked her life to save her sister from the jaws of a crocod i l e described her battle with the reptile as ‘fight or flight’.

Georgia Laurie said adrenaline took over as she squared off with the crocodile, determined to rescue her badly injured sister, Melissa.

‘ It was fight or flight. And you fight for the ones you love,’ she said. Miss Laurie, 28, said she was so focused on rescuing her sibling from the 10ft predator, who had dragged Melissa under the water and was trying to drown her in a death roll, that she didn’t realise she had also been injured. Her right hand was bitten to the bone as she punched and grappled with the crocodile at Manialtepec Lagoon in Mexico.

Historically crocodile attacks are 100 times deadlier than shark attacks and experts say Miss Laurie did the right thing.

‘The bigger fight you put up, the more likely it’s going to let you go and say it’s not worth it. It’s your only chance,’ said Frank Mazzotti, professor of wildlife ecology at Florida University.

Miss Laurie, who has described the experience as ‘terrifying’, only realised the extent of her own injuries when she and her sister were taken to hospital.

While being examined, she

‘It’s your only chance’

uncurled her fist and saw that she had deep cuts on her right hand. Until then, she said, adrenaline had been coursing through her body and she hadn’t felt any pain.

Miss Laurie is staying in the surfing resort of Puerto Escondido where Melissa remains in the Angel del Mar Hospital. It is ten miles from Manialtepec Lagoon.

She revealed that her twin is now fully out of the induced coma that doctors had put her in to aid her recovery.

With bites to her abdomen, leg and head, a fractured wrist and lung problems from being half-drowned, she developed sepsis, but appears now to be on the road to recovery.

‘I saw Mel earlier and she is doing really good,’ said Miss Laurie. ‘They took the tube out of her. She is breathing on her own very well.

‘However, she can’t talk because of the soreness in her throat from the [breathing] tube,’ she told BBC Radio Berkshire.

‘She knew who I was. She seemed happy to see me and she is doing much better. We are all so happy.’

Miss Laurie is an expert diver and her experience in the water is said to have been another factor in the sisters’ remarkable escape.

The duo was among a group of tourists visiting the lagoon, a popular beauty spot, when they were attacked in shallow water at the edge of a mangrove swamp. It is the wet season in this part of Mexico and the nesting season for crocodiles who lurk at the lagoon. It is believed the girls disturbed a female protecting her eggs.Other members of the group rushed to help and both injured girls were transported by boat to the mainland where paramedics were waiting. The tour had been organised by an unlicensed guide, a Turkish man named locally as Richie, who had little knowledge of local wildlife and safety issues.

The rogue guide has been interviewed by the authorities, worried about the impact on tourism, and an investigation has begun.

‘I actually said to the guide, “this looks like a place where crocodiles make their home”,’ Miss Laurie said, but the group were assured the waters were safe.

The twins, from Berkshire, had been in Mexico to volunteer, work in animal sanctuaries and travel.

A GoFundMe account has so far raised £43,000 to pay for the sisters’ medical bills. Their parents Sue and Sean have been liaising with the Foreign Office and are expected to travel to Mexico to be reunited with their daughters.