A kayaker in North Carolina got a heart-stopping surprise on Sunday when an alligator slammed into his kayak and flipped it over. Pete Joyce was paddling in a swampy section of the Waccamaw River when the reptile charged at him, reports CNN. Though he is an experience kayaker, Mr Joyce was knocked into the water by the force of the impact.
Luckily, he grabbed hold of some branches near the bank and managed to prevent his boat from getting flipped upside down.
A video camera he was wearing on his chest recorded the whole scary encounter. Peter Joyce posted a 2-minute video of the attack on YouTube noting: "While paddling the upper Waccamaw in N.C. I received a warm welcome from the wildlife."
The video shows him paddling peacefully when, seemingly out of nowhere, an alligator appeared to his left and charged at the kayak. Take a look at the encounter below:
"I was just about to turn around when it came towards me," Mr Joyce, 46, said according to NBC News. "The video doesn't show how hard the impact was. The alligator hit the kayak so hard, I lost my balance and started to roll."
He added that the encounter did not end there - he felt the alligator under the kayak and hit it three times, hoping it would scare the reptile away as he climbed back in.
Footage of the scary alligator attack has gone viral with over 6 lakh views and a number of stunned comments.
"That must have been the longest couple of seconds under water of your life!" wrote one person.
"Welp, that's nightmare material," said another.
Alicia Davis, an alligator biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, told CNN that alligators tend to be more active this time of the year because mating season is over and females are guarding their nests.
"It could have been a female that was trying to intimidate him, maybe a little bit, because they are a little bit aggressive around their nests," she said. "Mostly they try to intimidate you if you get too close."
US Woman Charged With Abusing And Starving 2 Of Her Adopted Children Before Murdering Them US Man Wins $400,000 Lottery Prize After Seeing Friend's Social Media Post Mysterious Object Found In North Carolina, Experts Say It Could Be SpaceX Dragon Debris Vandalism At Kolkata Hospital Where Doctor Was Raped, Tear Gas Fired 150 mg Semen In Kolkata Doctor's Body, Suspect Gang-Rape: Parents To Court Starbucks' Indian-Origin CEO, Recently Fired, Never Worked Past 6 pm Professor 'Digitally Arrested' For 12 Days By Scammers, Loses Rs 12 Lakh Independence Day 2024 Live Updates: PM Modi To Address Nation From Red Fort PM Modi To Address Nation From Red Fort On 78th Independence Day Today Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.