School student eaten by crocodile: Report
The Jakarta Post | The Archipelago | Sat, January 21 2012, 1:17 PM
KUPANG: Juraida, 10, a school student in Lembata regency, East Nusa Tenggara, is thought to have been killed after she was snatched by a crocodile while fishing in a river.
The girl was hunting for turtles with her father and brother when the incident took place.
“Juraida was seized when she was in about a half-meter of water at the river’s mouth,” Lembata Deputy Regent Viktor Mado Waton said when contacted on Friday.
He said that based on the witnesses’ information, a crocodile suddenly leered up, snatched the girl and dragged her down into the water.
“Her father and brother could only watch helplessly,” Viktor said.
A rescue team was deployed later but they found only a dress and a hair ribbon on the sand, near the scene of the incident.
Local residents said that they had seen several crocodiles sun-bathing at the river mouth a few days before the incident.
Viktor said that a similar incident had taken place at the end of last year. The victim was never seen again in that case.
