4 days ago
Horrifying moment crocodile carries body of teenager along river in its jaws after dragging him away in death roll in front of screaming friend
A teenage boy was mauled to death in Indonesia by a crocodile in front of his horrified friend before he was dragged away in the beast's jaws.
La Bayu, 17, was fishing with his friend Inguu in the Kaleleha River in Southeast Sulawesi on Monday morning when he was snatched up by the huge beast.
Horrific footage taken by a rescue team shows the teen's body being dragged along the river by the killer croc as the predator held his lifeless body in its jaws.
Following the bloody attack, Inguu leapt into the river and tried to grapple with the powerful crocodile in a desperate attempt to save his friend.
However, the animal flung Inguu away as it continued thrashing La Bayu around in a gruesome death roll.
A rescue team arrived at the scene at around 8pm after being notified by the locals.
Iptu Thamrin, spokesman for the Central Buton Regency Police, said: 'At 8:20 pm, Mawasangka Police personnel led by Mawasangka Police Chief Iptu Kamaludin arrived at the location and, together with villagers from Poaroha and Terapung, searched for the victim.
'A total of 100 people were involved in the effort.
'After arriving at the scene, the crocodile was found approximately 50 metres from a bridge, with the victim right in its mouth.'
Rescue workers and residents used a net to catch the animal and collect the victim's butchered corpse.
La Bayu was reportedly found with severe injuries near his armpit, a fractured right arm, a severed left hand, and a torn waist. His body has been handed over to his family.
Ipda Baharuddin, spokesman for the Muna Police, said: 'We urge residents to be more vigilant and temporarily avoid carrying out activities at the location of the incident for safety.'
Indonesia has the most crocodile attacks in the world.
There were at least 1,000 incidents over the past decade - though many more are believed to have been unreported - resulting in more than 450 fatalities, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The tragedy comes after a 13-year-old boy was killed by a crocodile in front of his horrified friends In Indonesia last month.
Muhammad Syahputra Almanda was playing with his friends in a field next to their village in Jambi on May 24 when their football landed close to the river.
The schoolboy chased after the ball, but as he bent down to scoop it from the water, he was attacked by a 13ft crocodile.
Residents were heard screaming in footage of the incident as the young boy was dragged under the water by the crocodile.
Panicked villagers told the authorities, who arrived at the scene and found the predator still with the body before disappearing under the water.
Rescue teams scoured the river on boats and later found the schoolboy's body face down in the water later that evening.
The Indonesian archipelago is home to 14 types of crocs - with a large population of extremely large and violent estuarine crocodiles that flourish in the region's climate.
Conservationists believe that crocodiles have been driven further inland closer to villages due to overfishing reducing the crocodiles' natural food supplies combined with habitat loss from the development of coastal areas into farms.
Widespread tin mining has also caused villagers to encroach on the crocodiles' natural habitats, pushing the creatures closer toward people's homes.
With uneducated locals in the developing country still using rivers for bathing and primitive fishing, the deadly combination of factors has led to rising numbers of crocodile attacks.
It also comes after a heavily pregnant woman was killed by a crocodile last month while cooking lunch at her flooded home in Indonesia.
Munirah, 28, was standing in the swamped kitchen when the animal sank its fangs into her leg in North Kalimantan on May 27.
The mother-to-be, who was only identified by her first name, screamed as the beast then tried to thrash her in a death roll.
Hearing her pained cries, Munirah's sister Ana Maria rushed over and found her sibling holding onto a tree branch.
She rushed out of the room to find a weapon with which to beat the huge animal, but it had already dragged Munirah into the water by the time she returned.
Villagers searched along the Mambulu River. Footage shows several men firing a shotgun at the predator, but it retreated into the muddy waters.
Around half an hour later, they found a lifeless Munirah body floating in the flood.
