An Australian fisherman is believed to have been killed by a crocodile after falling into a creek, according to police on Tuesday. Human remains were discovered inside a 4.9-metre (16-foot) crocodile that was captured nearby.
The 40-year-old man was fishing along a riverbank in tropical north Queensland when he “fell into the water and failed to resurface,” police stated.
Reports indicated that the man had been “taken by a crocodile.”
The fisherman had been at a remote spot known to locals as “crocodile bend,” as reported by Australian media.
Rangers captured and euthanized a large crocodile close to where the man had disappeared. Police believe the man’s remains were found inside the animal and are now working on a formal identification.
In a similar incident, a 12-year-old girl was killed by a crocodile in July while swimming near a remote settlement in Australia’s Northern Territory.
While deadly crocodile attacks are rare in Australia’s northern tropics, they do occur. Earlier this year, a saltwater crocodile was shot, cooked, and eaten after threatening a community in the Northern Territory.