California couple in failed bid to save fellow tourist from Mexico crocodile attack, ‘by the time I got to him, it was unfortunately too late’

A California couple visiting Puerto Vallarta in Mexico has opened up about their frantic efforts to save a fellow tourist from a crocodile attack.

Chris Bury and Jamie Yetter, both from San Clemente, had just finished a walk across the beach on June 26 and were headed to the hotel pool when they heard screams from behind them. In an account posted by ABC 7 Eyewitness News, they said they rushed back to the beach where they saw a man being attacked by a crocodile.

Yetter described the attack, saying:

“The crocodile had him by the thigh, and he would turn, and the size of this crocodile, I mean, his head was as long as my torso, his tail thicker than my legs. He was just turning him, taking him under.” 

Witnesses sprinted from the hotel pool into the dark water to try and save a 28-year-old worker after an American crocodile struck offshore of a Puerto Vallarta resort. https://t.co/x1KOwcY1li

— SURFER (@Surfer) June 28, 2026

“He went down, and then, at that point, he stayed down”

Bury said he tried to throw a life preserver to the man, but he was apparently in shock and “wouldn’t respond to comments to take it.” Someone then appeared with a kayak, and Bury said he attempted to paddle out after the man, but, as he later explained:

“He went down, and then, at that point, he stayed down. So I was over top of him, but the water was so murky, and you couldn’t even see a foot down. So by the time I got to him, it was unfortunately too late.”

Bury later described the failed rescue as “pretty traumatizing”, with Yetter adding, “I am so consumed with grief and anger.

The victim’s body was retrieved on the morning of Saturday, 27 June, and has been identified as a man named Irving who’d been visiting from Mexico City with a group of friends. No further details have been officially released.

The crocodile believed to be responsible for the attack is also said to have been captured. Jalisco state authorities have reminded the public that danger lurks in the water and to heed all warning signs.

This incident is far from the first crocodile attack on tourists in the area. In July 2022, the NY Post reported that two American tourists from Colorado were mauled by a crocodile in the vicinity of Puerto Vallarta. Infobee also lists a 2025 incident in which a tourist was caught on video fleeing from a crocodile attack on the same beach.