Father saves son after dingo grabs sleeping toddler from camper van on Australian island

'The parents woke up to the baby screaming and chased after him and had to fight the dingoes off', paramedic says

The boy was reportedly the third child to be attacked by dingoes on Fraser Island this year (AP Photo/Russell McPhedran)

A father pulled his toddler from the jaws of a dingo after it dragged his 14-month-old son from a camper van.

The family were asleep in their camper van on the Australian holiday island of Fraser Island in Queensland when the dingo grabbed the boy.

His parents were alerted by their son’s cries, which faded as he was dragged away.

“The parents woke up to the baby screaming and chased after him and had to fight the dingoes off to take the 14-month-old boy away,” paramedic Ben Du Toit said.

He said the boy suffered deep cuts on his head from the attack.

“He was apparently grabbed around the back of the neck area and dragged away,” Frank Bertoli, a pilot for RACQ Life Flight, told Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“So, if it wasn’t for the parents and their quick thinking and fighting off the dingoes, he probably would have had more severe injuries,”

The boy was airlifted to hospital on Friday morning.

Mr Bertoli said the boy was the third child to be attacked by dingoes on Fraser Island this year.

The island is part of an Australian national park and is known for its rainforests, wetlands and extensive coastal dunes.

The dingoes themselves are a protected species on Fraser Island, and their population there is estimated to be around 200, with packs of up to 30 roaming the island, according to the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.

In 1980, baby Azaria Chamberlain disappeared from a tent in a camping ground in Australia’s outback, with her mother claiming she was taken by a dingo.

The baby’s body was never found, creating a mystery that captivated Australians for years and was made into a book and a film with Meryl Streep and Sam Neill.

Azaria’s mother Lindy was jailed for three years over her daughter’s death before later being cleared, but it wasn’t until 2012 that a court ruled a dingo killed Azaria.