Girl, 8, snatched by crocodile
An eight-year-old girl is feared dead after she was snatched from a riverbank by a saltwater crocodile in Australia’s tropical north, a police spokeswoman said today.
The girl had been fishing with her family from a small Aboriginal community when she was attacked on the Blythe River about 400 kilometres east of Northern Territory capital Darwin at 8.30am local time yesterday, Northern Territory Police spokeswoman Sandra Mitchell said.
“It is believed she went to the river’s edge to get water when she was taken by a crocodile,” Mitchell said.
Family members witnessed the attack. Her body has not yet been recovered, Mitchell said.
Police and government wildlife rangers were headed to the remote location in Aboriginal tribal country known as Arnhem Land to search for the girl’s remains and attempt to harpoon the killer crocodile, Mitchell said.
Mitchell could not say how big the crocodile was. The child’s chances of survival were remote, she said.
Numbers of crocodiles – which can grow up to seven metres long - lurking in rivers and in the sea throughout Australia’s north have exploded from several hundred to tens of thousands since they became a protected species in 1971.
Despite their protected status, crocodiles that directly threaten humans can be trapped or harpooned by licensed professionals.
Police suspect the girl’s disappearance is the first fatal attack in Australia since a 55-year-old Darwin resident was killed while he was diving off the Northern Territory coast in September last year.
