A California family’s dream vacation at a swanky Puerto Vallarta resort turned into a real-life nightmare when they helplessly witnessed a massive crocodile maul and drag a 28-year-old man to his death in the ocean.

Jamie Yetter, her fiancé Chris Bury and her teenage daughter were relaxing by the pool at the Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort & Spa on Friday evening when blood-curdling screams erupted from the beach.

Thinking a fellow tourist was caught in a rip current, the strong swimmers from San Clemente, Orange County, sprang into action.

Bury sprinted down and grabbed the nearest kayak, but there were no oars. “I was on the kayak right when he got pulled under,” Bury told CBS Los Angeles in chilling footage. “There were no oars. There was really nothing at the beach at all to help. We were just scrambling, trying to do what we could.”

Yetter described the horrifying scene: the crocodile had the man by the thigh, thrashing and dragging him under the waves as the couple tried in vain to reach him.

The victim, identified as Irving Mauricio, a 28-year-old from Mexico City who was in town for work, was pulled out to sea. His body was recovered the next morning, roughly a quarter-mile offshore after an all-night search involving boats, jet skis, and rescuers.

The killer croc was later spotted lurking right on the beach at night, illuminated by flashlights as stunned onlookers watched from the rocks. Dramatic video shows the reptile on the darkened shore, search vessels patrolling the water, and the shaken California couple recounting their desperate rescue attempt.

Yetter and Bury are now blasting the resort and local authorities over what they call dangerously inadequate warnings.

Signs near the beach “do not accurately depict the dangers posed by crocodiles in the water, and their symbol looks more like an iguana,” Yetter said.“They didn’t tell us we shouldn’t go swimming,” she added. “Even the next morning, I went down to the ocean. I assumed the beach would be closed. The beach wasn’t closed. There were no no-swimming signs.”

The couple had just finished an evening walk on the beach before heading to the pool when the attack unfolded around 6-7 p.m. local time.

Puerto Vallarta beaches, especially those near river mouths and estuaries like the one by the Marriott, are known habitats for American crocodiles that can venture into the ocean, particularly during the rainy season.

The resort said it has “appropriate signage, as well as night patrolling and red flags,” but the California family insists the warnings were nowhere near clear enough.

The gut-wrenching video of the spotted croc and the family’s account are now circulating widely, serving as a grim reminder that paradise can turn deadly in an instant.