Wildlife rangers deployed to scene of Kinabatangan crocodile attack

KOTA KINABALU: Wildlife rangers have stationed themselves at a river where a woman was killed by a crocodile in the Kinabatangan district.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said rangers were deployed to Tg Bulat Sinar Jaya, Kota Kinabatangan, after they were informed of the 3pm incident on Saturday (July 30).

Tuuga said if the reptile was too big and dangerous to trap, they would have to shoot it.

"Our rangers will decide what is the safest and fastest solution – whether to try and trap it or to shoot it," he said on Sunday (July 31).

He said wildlife rangers received numerous reports of crocodile sightings in Kinabatangan, including at Tg Bulat Sinar Jaya.

Tuuga said they had captured and shot a number of crocodiles in the district over the past few years, adding he could not recall how many had been captured or killed in Kinabatangan alone.

He said the reptiles trapped were sold to crocodile farms according to existing laws and regulations.

In the latest incident on Saturday, a woman by the name of Norsila Sayong, 32, was fishing by the riverbank when she was attacked.

Her remains were found a day later on Sunday.

Witnesses said the crocodile was huge, with claims that its head was the size of a small wooden boat.