Man fishing in Kinabatangan loses brother in croc attack

KOTA KINABALU: Two brothers were netting fish and prawns along a river at Kg Sinar Jaya in Sabah’s east coast Kinabatangan district when suddenly a crocodile dragged the younger brother underwater on Thursday (March 7) evening.

It is learnt that the elder man who saw the incident right in front of him, backed away in shock.

When he came to his senses, the reptile had already swam off and his brother was nowhere in sight.

Kinabatangan senior fire officer Ahmad Khairul Arif said the elder brother immediately ran home to get help.

He alerted firemen about the incident at about 8.44pm.

“Our team had to travel about 14km to the scene for the search operation, but efforts had to be stopped for the night at about 10.35pm,” he said when contacted.

He added that from the information gathered from the elder brother, the crocodile was about 4ft wide.

Ahmad said the search operation was continued on Friday (March 8) morning.

“We have yet to see signs of the victim,” he said.

This is not the first time people have been killed by crocodiles in Kinabatangan.

More than 10 cases of deaths and dozens of injuries have been reported relating to crocodile attacks in Kinabatangan over the past five years.

Wildlife officials have carried out trapping and culling of these reptiles in Kinabatangan and other parts of Sabah where deaths and attacks have been reported.