Scary half hour suspended over crocodile pit

DARWIN – A Dutch tourist has been rescued after being stuck in Darwin’s “Cage of Death” for half an hour suspended above a saltwater crocodile named after Britain’s Prince William.

Cynthia Spaan eventually climbed a ladder to emerge from the cage safe but shaken on Monday.

“In the beginning I thought it was really funny because I really wanted to do the cage dive so it was kind of okay,” she said. “But after five minutes I started freaking out, because I’m a little bit claustrophobic.”

Staff used a drill to take off the top of the cage, according to witness Anson Segall.

“She was being protected by blokes either side to make sure she didn’t fall into the water,” he said.

Spaan had initially entered the cage which staff then hoisted from the ground and pulled by rope to the end of the gantry from which it was suspended, he said.

He said the cage became stuck and staff began running around “frantically”.

“By the time she got to the end of the gantry the last crocodile was sort of clued in,” Segall said. “It knew something was going on and he was basically sitting underneath just waiting for his meal to drop.”

Spaan was given chocolates and water during her ordeal.

“The girl’s four friends were sitting on the sideline cheering and singing,” Segall said.

“After a while they all started to die down a bit and the mood became a bit more sombre.

“Initially she was above a concrete wall which offered some sort of protection but when she was above the water and the crocodiles were watching her, she definitely looked concerned. Radios were in full use, people running back and forth.”

The “Cage of Death” is a popular Darwin tourist attraction in which a perspex cylinder containing up to two people is lowered into a pool that contains a large saltwater crocodile.

It is in Crocosaurus Cove in the centre of Darwin on the nightclub and restaurant strip of Mitchell Street.

The park’s manager Chase Johnson said the cage passed over three crocodile pens.

“She still got to see her crocodiles as well,” he said.

“They were just waiting to see if there was something new coming to visit them in the pen.”

He said the tourist got her money’s worth as the cage dive was usually only 15 minutes long.

In 2011 the cable lowering the cage broke with two people inside and hit the bottom of the tank while a large crocodile was swimming nearby.