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5-meter long crocodile terrorized residents of Kedungwiangun village in Klirong district, Kebumen regency, Central Java, on Tuesday.

The reptile was spotted in the paddy and is believed to have been carried to the location by the overflowing Luk Ulo River following heavy rain the night before.

Some residents tried to catch the animal, but in doing so they provoked it to get out of the water, run wild and cause panic.

“We were unaware that the crocodile is that big. So we all ran away once it got to the ground with its mouth wide open,” said villager Turyono. “It came after us fast. It was ferocious.”

Numerous attempts to catch the apparently angered crocodile failed. Some tried to use bamboo sticks and steel wire to snare it, but the reptile broke the trap.

“The crocodile then disappeared, but villagers are now haunted by fear that it could return,” Turyono said.

Kebumen Police spokesman Adj. Comr. Willy Budiyanto criticized the villagers for attempting to catch the animal. “It is dangerous to try to catch a crocodile without proper knowledge,” he said.

In Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, a 50-year-old man is missing after he was reportedly attacked by a wild crocodile near the Balang Island bridge on Wednesday.

“The man, Maskur, was attacked when he and his two children set up a fish trap,” said Octavianto from the East and North Kalimantan SAR Agency.