SYDNEY (Reuters) - Retired Australian crocodile hunter Ray Turner saved a young girl from the jaws of a 3-meter crocodile when he jumped on top of the man-eating reptile and gouged its eyes, local media said on Tuesday. Hannah Thompson, 11, was swimming with other children in shallow water behind Turner's charter boat in Margaret Bay in tropical Queensland state on Monday when the crocodile grabbed her by the arm. Turner threw himself into the water the moment he heard screams and the shout "Crocodile!" from other passengers. "I landed fair on its back and I got a finger in its left eye -- I missed the right eye -- but he got a fright and let go," Turner said. "They will always let go when you go for an eye because it's their vulnerable point and their livelihood," he was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press. Turner said he hunted crocodiles in Papua New Guinea about 30 years ago.

　　Officials said little Hannah, who received lacerations and puncture wounds on her arm, was in stable condition in hospital and owed her life to Turner's quick thinking.