Siay (Philippines) - A visit to the zoo almost ended fatally for a tourist in the Philippines when the 29-year-old suddenly climbed into an enclosure to take a selfie. Contrary to what the man had assumed, there was no statue there.

The man had visited the zoo in Siay on the Philippine peninsula on April 28 when the horrific incident occurred.

According to the Daily Star, the 29-year-old suddenly climbed over the barrier of the crocodile enclosure, waded through the water and then pulled out his cell phone to take a picture of himself and the supposed stone statue. What the visitor didn't realize, however, was that the enclosure was actually home to the motionless female crocodile Lalay, who attacked a few seconds later.

While the bystanders screamed in shock, the reptile sank its sharp teeth into the man's arm and bit down.

Video footage shows the tourist screaming in pain and trying to escape. But the reptile made no move to let the man go.

Shortly afterwards, the animal also bit into the 29-year-old's thigh and rolled over his body several times to bring him down with the so-called death roll.

The death struggle is said to have lasted 30 minutes before Layla's keeper dared to enter the enclosure at the risk of his own life and threw a cement block onto the reptile's head. The crocodile then released its grip and the zoo visitor was rescued.

The man was seriously injured in the incident and later required more than 50 stitches in hospital.

Joel Sajolga, police sergeant from Siay City Police, said: "The tourist was walking around the area when he saw the crocodile, which he thought was just a plastic object."

Police now want to find out if the 29-year-old was under the influence of drugs at the time of the incident .