A brave British diver who leapt into action in Mexico and punched a crocodile in the face to save her twin sister from its jaws in June 2021 is now planning to complete a charity swim to help people with post-traumatic stress disorder.
As reported on Scuba Diver, Georgia Laurie and her sister Melissa, 28, were back-packing around the world, and had gone to Manialtepec Lagoon near Puerto Escondido to see the glowing bioluminescent waters and resident turtles.
While they were swimming, a crocodile grabbed Melissa and dragged her under the water. Experienced diver Georgia frantically searched for her sister and eventually found her floating face-down and unresponsive on the surface.
As she was swimming back to the boat, the crocodile returned and Georgia had to fight it off, punching it to keep it at bay until they could get out of the water.
Melissa was initially placed into a medically induced coma, and developed sepsis after the attack. She is now almost completely recovered physically, but both women are still coping with the mental impacts of the incident, suffering from disassociation linked to PTSD.
Now Georgia aims to complete some charity swims to raise money for a mental health charity in the UK, as well as a charity in Mexico, though she says she has set her sights on something ‘more physically challenging' than an ordinary race.
She said: “I just want to give something back because we had a lot of help from the community and we want to do something to help other people.”
Photo credit: Georgia Laurie
