Croc bashed on nose

A woman punched a 3m saltwater crocodile on the nose to free her teenage nephew from its jaws during an Outback attack.

Margaret Rinybuma, in her 50s, let her fists fly when the reptile lunged at 19-year-old Manual Pascoe's leg as he launched his boat in a creek about 400km east of Darwin on Saturday.

Pascoe suffered muscle damage.