A man was killed in a terrifying crocodile attack at a popular beach in Puerto Vallarta as a vacationing family from California rushed into action to try to save him.
The deadly attack happened around 6:30 p.m. Friday 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 had been in the resort town for work.
His body was recovered about 12 hours later, early Saturday morning.
Jamie Yetter, her fiancé Chris Bury and her teenage daughter, who were visiting from San Clemente, California, were staying at the hotel and relaxing by the pool when they suddenly heard screams coming 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 kayak in a desperate attempt to reach the man, but the situation quickly turned horrifying.
“There were no oars. There was really nothing at the beach at all to help,” Bury said. “We were just scrambling, trying to do what we could.”
Then came the moment no one could stop.
“I was on the kayak right when he got pulled under,” Bury said.
Despite the family’s frantic effort to help, the victim could not be saved.
Yetter said there were signs near the beach warning about jellyfish, stingrays and crocodiles in the water. But she said her family initially mistook the crocodile image on the warning sign for an iguana.
By Saturday morning, beachgoers were reportedly back in the same area, with families once again swimming in the water.
The attack happened near the site of another crocodile incident in 2022, when two tourists from Colorado were injured in Jalisco.
The Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort and Spa has not publicly commented on the latest attack.
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