A Kiwi woman believed to have been killed in a crocodile attack in Australia was with her childhood friend from Hamilton.
Former Hamilton woman Cindy Waldron, 46, was swimming with childhood friend, Leeann Mitchell, at Thornton Beach, Daintree in North Queensland, about 10pm on Sunday when she screamed "A croc has got me.''
Ms Mitchell, 47, tried to drag Ms Waldron away but was unsuccessful.
She has not been seen since.
A cousin of Ms Mitchell, Alan Frost, who lives in Stratford, told the Herald she was unhurt but "in shock''. She was recovering in Mossman Hospital.
She has got good friends around her,'' Mr Frost said.
"Leeann is a really good person, she has some really good support around her.''
The two women were childhood friends and Ms Mitchell had recently undergone chemotherapy for cancer.
Ms Waldron had been living in Australia for 18 years. She was based in Lithgow, in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales.
Ms Waldron worked as a photographer and had her own business, Instinctive Images.
On her website, she wrote: "I've had a love of photography from my teenage years, so it was only natural that after years of being employed in photographic fields, I started my own business I've found that taking photos for others is not only a privilege, but very satisfying.
"All the hours of photography and digital imaging are worth it when I present the newly-wed couples, first time parents & extended families with their crafted images. The looks on their faces tell me that they will be family treasures for years to come.''
In February she wrote about relocating her studio from Leura, a suburb in the Blue Mountains, to a new town after 10 years.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said the department had been liaising with New Zealand-based family of the missing woman.
A land, sea and air search for Ms Waldron was continuing, A Queensland Police Service spokesman said.
Senior Constable Russell Parker told ABC radio: "Her ... friend tried to grab her and drag her to safety but she just wasn't able to do that.''
The two women were not locals and might not have been aware that the area was well known as a crocodile habitat, Mr Parker said.
Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman Neil Noble told ABC: "The report that we have from the surviving woman is that they felt a nudge and her partner started to scream and then was dragged into the water.''
Warren Enstch, who represents the area in the Australian Parliament, said the beach was beside a creek where tourism operators run crocodile-spotting tours.
Enstch said the two tourists had to have seen plentiful crocodile warning signs in the region.
"If you go in swimming at 10 o'clock at night, you're going to get consumed,'' he said.
The search has resumed for the woman, with SES, land and water police scouring the bushland near Thornton Beach.
The case has echoes of a fatal croc attack near the Daintree River just before Christmas in 1985.
Beryl Wruck, 43, was taken by a 5m croc after a fateful decision to take a late-night dip in the shallows of Barratt Creek after an evening of dancing and drinking with friends.
More recently, 5-year-old Jeremy Doble died when he was attacked by a 4.3m crocodile in a swamp behind his Daintree River home.
He vanished in February 2009, with his 7-year-old brother telling police he saw a croc in the water moments after the boy disappeared.
