MELBOURNE - A PILOT buried his injured passenger up to his neck in sand to save him from hypothermia after their helicopter crashed over crocodile-infested mudflats in Australia, reports said on Monday.

The helicopter came down late Sunday in a remote area about 60 kilometres southwest of Darwin when the pilot saw a crocodile and decided to have a closer look, the Northern Territory News reported.

It said the pilot raised the alarm with a satellite phone and dragged his only passenger up the beach away from the shoreline, which he knew was inhabited by deadly saltwater crocodiles.

Fearing that rescuers would not arrive until morning, he buried the passenger in sand to prevent hypothermia from setting in, meaning rescuers thought the man was dead when they arrived later that night.

'The bizarre thing was that they thought initially the passenger was dead as he was buried in sand,' Ian Badham, director of the CareFlight helicopter rescue service, told ABC radio.

'It turned out that the pilot had realised it might take rescue services until daylight to actually get there. He was really concerned that his passenger, who was very, very badly injured, might develop hypothermia.'

He said the passenger was taken to Royal Darwin Hospital suffering chest and arm injuries, while the pilot had only minor injuries but was suffering from severe shock.

Two people have been killed in Australia this year in attacks by saltwater crocodiles, which can grow up to seven metres long and weigh more than a tonne. -- AFP