Crocodile swallows Indonesian girl

KUPANG—A wild crocodile swallowed a 10-year-old girl while she played in a river with her father in eastern Indonesia, the second death in the same place in two months, a local official said Friday.

The girl was swimming in Wailolong river on Thursday when the large crocodile suddenly appeared, swallowed her instantly and disappeared into the water, said Viktor Mado Waton, Lembata district head in East Nusa Tenggara province.

“They only found the girl’s clothes three hours after the incident, some 200 meters (650 feet) away from the attack site,” he said, adding that her family members were still trying to find the body.

“Her father saw this shocking scene as he was only five meters away in the water.”

He said the father and the girl’s teenage brother were hunting turtles in the river while she was playing.

A 12-year-old boy was killed and eaten by a crocodile in the same river in early December when he was playing with his friends, Waton said.

The district head said he has warned locals of the danger and he will work with police to shut the area off to prevent another incident.