TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Farmer missing after being dragged by crocodile into North Sumatran river
A local search and rescue (SAR) team has been deployed to search for the victim using inflatable boats and canoes.
Change Size
A freshwater crocodile swims near Char Komorpur, Pabna, in December 2018. (The Daily Star/ANN)
A
farmer in North Sumatra has gone missing after a crocodile attacked and dragged him into a river in front of his wife and son on Sunday morning.
Ponidi, 47, a resident of Tanjung Alam hamlet, was attacked by the crocodile as he was getting off his boat in the Parit Cina waterway, which connects to the Simangalam river in Kualuh Selatan district, Labuhanbatu Utara regency.
A local search and rescue (SAR) team has been deployed to search for the victim using inflatable boats and canoes.
“We have not found the victim yet. The SAR team, with the help of residents, is still trying to find him,” SAR Medan spokesman Sariman Sitorus said on Monday, adding that the search had been extended to a radius of four kilometers from the scene.
According to reports from Ponidi’s wife and son, Sariman said, the incident took place after the three family members crossed the Parit Cina waterway to reach their palm plantation.
At 11 a.m., Ponidi got off his boat to tether it, but a crocodile pounced on him and dragged him away in front of his wife and son, Sariman said.
The Labuhanbatu Utara Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) said some nearby fishermen had witnessed the incident.
“The search [for Ponidi] is still ongoing,” said the agency’s emergency affairs and logistics head, Sukardi. (syk)
