Crocodile Attack: One Boy Injured, Another Missing

A crocodile attack in a remote part of the Australian Outback has left one boy injured and another boy missing. Reports state that the attack happened Sunday while a group of children had been swimming in a water hole.

CNN stated that police officers and park rangers have been actively searching for the boy since Sunday. According to the report, authorities have been using helicopters and boats to search the area around Mudginberri in the Northern Territory’s Kakadu National Park.

Police sergeant Stephen Constable told reporters that the group of children had been playing in a water hole when they were attacked by a saltwater crocodile. A 15-year-old boy was bitten by the animal before managing to fight him off. It was then that police believe the crocodile turned on a 12-year-old boy and swam off with him.

“The 15-year-old boy was grabbed on his right arm. He started fighting off the croc, and it took him by the left arm; then it let him go and took hold of the 12-year-old boy, and swam off with him.”

ABC News reported that the 15-year-old boy was first attacked on his right arm. While fighting the crocodile, the boy also received lacerations to his left elbow. There has been no sign of the 12-year-old, although rangers have reportedly shot two large crocodile near the spot where the boy was snatched. Officials say that the chances of finding the boy are growing slimmer and slimmer.

“As time goes on, the chances of finding him alive diminish severely,” Constable said Monday.

Authorities had the 15-year-old’s wounds examined by a crocodile expert according to CNN. The expert believes that the crocodile may have been about eight feet long. Search crews have also told reporters that they are on the lookout for larger crocodiles that may have dragged the 12-year-old away.

As of Monday, authorities have issued a shoot-to-kill order for crocodiles longer than six and a half feet (two meters) long. The two crocodiles that were shot and killed Monday were about 14 and 15 feet long. Each Croc was cut open, and their stomach contents were examined. Neither of the animals had any human remains in them, so the search for the boy continues on.

Constable told reporters that a fresh search for the boy began on Monday. The search team included two airboats, and flat-bottomed vessels that would extend the search area to surrounding flood plains.