Slain beast: Firemen, police and wildlife department authorities posing with the dead crocodile.
KOTA KINABALU: Wildlife officers shot dead a 4.6m-long crocodile which had the body of a plantation worker still in its jaws, in the east coast Lahad Datu district yesterday.
The victim, identified as Rusdi Tambah, was said to have been fishing from a riverbank in the morning when the crocodile lunged at him and pulled him into the water.
Sabah Fire and Rescue Department operations centre assistant chief Riki Mohan Singh Ramday said the crocodile was located some 50m from where the victim was last seen during a search and rescue exercise.
He said the fire department was alerted of the attack at 10.07am and an eight-man team was rushed to the area located some 40km away, reaching the location at 11.32am.
The reptile was shot at Sungai Matamba, off Jalan Silabukan.
Riki Mohan said the operation also involved the police besides the fire department and state Wildlife Department.
“The wildlife officers fired five shots towards the crocodile,” he said when contacted.
“After ascertaining that the reptile had died, firemen then went into the river to retrieve the victim’s body.”
He said the body was then handed over to the police for the next course of action while the carcass of the crocodile was taken by the wildlife authorities.
The operation ended at 1.10pm.
