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UPANG: 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.