It was a "sheer act of desperation and survival" that caused a man to fend off advancing crocodiles by throwing spark plugs and spanners after one overturned his tinny, drowning his friend.
The two holidaymakers had travelled to Darwin from Victoria at the start of the dry season, and on Tuesday morning they went to Leaders Creek boat ramp near Gunn point, about 38km northwest of Darwin to go crabbing.
But as they were attempting to bring crab pots into their three-metre tinny, a crocodile tipped over their boat.
"They tried to climb back on the boat and it further capsized and that's when his mate was caught underneath it and drowned," Ian Badham, Director of CareFlight NT told AAP.
"As he was trying to crawl to shore near the mangroves was when he had to use a spanner and spark plugs, throwing things and banging at other crocs trying to get to him ... It was just a sheer act of desperation and survival."
The 72-year-old man pulled the boat into the mangroves and hid there for three hours, struggling in the mud until the tide came in enough for him to drag the boat further to safety.
Three professional crabbers heard his shouts and rescued him, taking him back to the boat ramp and retrieving his friend's body.
The survivor was treated for severe shock before being flown to Darwin where he was taken to hospital.
The top end has a notoriously large crocodile population, thought to be about 100,000 or about one for every two Territorians.
Last year the NT Coroner held an inquest into the deaths of two fishermen, one of whom was taken by a saltwater crocodile after he waded into the Adelaide River to unhook a lure.
Another was killed when a crocodile lunged out of the water and snatched him from his boat in Kakadu.
That attack, in June 2014, is thought to have been the first time a crocodile was bold enough to take someone out of a boat.
The inquest found there should be warnings about the increased risk of crocodiles attacking boats, particularly smaller vessels, as crocodiles can reach up to six metres in length, twice as long as a small tinny.
