Australia: Fisherman apparently devoured by 4.90 meter long reptile

In Australia, a fisherman was presumably devoured by a crocodile. The 40-year-old man was fishing on the bank of a river in the tropical north of the state of Queensland on Saturday when he “fell into the water and did not resurface,” police said on Tuesday. It was said that the fisherman had been “taken by a crocodile.”

Rangers later caught and killed a large crocodile near where the man disappeared. Police said they found human remains inside the 4.9m-long reptile, believed to be from the angler, which are now being formally identified. The animal also had scars on its snout. The man had cast his line at a secluded spot known locally as “Crocodile Bend,” Australian media reported.

According to “Deutsche Welle” The man is a doctor from Newcastle who was on a camping holiday in Queensland with his wife and three sons, aged two, five and seven. “Although he was tall, strong and fit, he was unable to get out of the water due to the terrain,” the family said in a statement. His wife came to his aid, but “due to the steepness and slipperiness of the bank, she was able to grab his arm but slipped into the river herself,” the statement continued. His “final, decisive act was to let go of her arm when he realised she was falling in – even though he knew she was his only chance.”

In July, a 12-year-old girl was killed by a crocodile while swimming in a remote part of Australia’s Northern Territory. Fatal crocodile attacks are rare in Australia, but they do occur.