Crocodile Attack - Notable Attacks

Notable Attacks

It is estimated that each year hundreds of people die from crocodile attacks in Africa—many of these attacks are never reported in the media. With no accurate reporting system in place, crocodile attacks in Africa are difficult to track and very few are reproduced here. The vast majority of attacks recorded below have occurred in Southeast Asia and Australia.

1990s

• On May 22, 1992, an Iban girl, Dayang anak Bayang was killed by Bujang Senang at Pelaban River, another tributary of the great Batang Lupar River near Lingga in Sri Aman Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. The killer crocodile was shot to death by several police sharpshooters and Iban hunters after a four-hour ordeal. It was the biggest and oldest crocodile ever caught in the area.

2000s

• In January 2001, attacks were reported by mugger crocodiles on tribal population around the Neyyar reservoir in Kerala, India where muggers are periodically raised and released into the reservoir from the Neyyar crocodile centre. This rare display of aggression was found to be the isolated behaviour of an abnormal minority among the Neyyar muggers which are usually not known to attack humans.
• In October 2002, 23-year-old German student Isabel von Jordan was killed by a saltwater crocodile in Kakadu National Park, Australia while taking a dip in the billabong with her sister and a few other backpackers.
• Estimated to be around 20 feet (6.1 m) in length, and to weigh more than 2,000 pounds (910 kg) Gustave has been credited with killing a number of people at the Rusizi River. Numerous capture attempts have been made, including using a massive bear trap in 2002, however Gustave has managed to evade capture. Gustave is the basis of the film Primeval (originally titled "Gustave"), which follows a news team sent to Burundi to capture Gustave; while doing so they become a target of a warlord in the midst of an African civil war.
• On December 2003, Brett Mann, 22, was killed after wading into the Finniss River, 80 km from Darwin, Australia.
• In August 2005, a 60-year-old man was dragged underwater by a crocodile in northeastern Australia.
• In September 2005, Russell Harris, a 37-year-old British engineer, was killed by a large saltwater crocodile while snorkeling off Picnic Beach in Australia. His body was recovered.
• February 2006. A 9-year-old girl was killed by a crocodile as she crossed a shallow river in the western Philippines.
• On March 19, 2006, University of Washington medical professor Richard Root, age 68, who had moved to alleviate a shortage of physicians, was killed on a wildlife tour of the Limpopo River when a crocodile emerged from the river, and pulled Dr. Root underwater.
• In July 2006, an 8-year-old girl was killed by a 5-metre crocodile near the Northern Territory coastal community of Maningrida, Australia.
• In April 2007, a 9-year-old Chinese child was killed in a crocodile pool at the Silver Beach holiday resort in southwest Guangxi region.
• In September 2008, Vietnam veteran Arthur Booker, 62, was taken while checking crab pots at a holiday campsite on the Endeavour River near Cooktown in far north Queensland Australia.
• On February 8, 2009, 5-year-old Jeremy Doble was attacked by a crocodile in far north Queensland Daintree River, Australia. Police confirmed that human remains found in a saltwater crocodile caught nearby were those of the boy.
• In March 2009, an 11-year-old Briony Goodsell was killed by a saltwater crocodile in the Black Jungle Swamp in the outskirts of rural Darwin, Australia.
• In April 2009, a 20-year-old local man was taken by a crocodile while the man was swimming with his brother at night in the Daly River about 150 km south of Darwin, Australia.

2010s

• April 2010: A 25-year-old woman from New Jersey was killed by a saltwater crocodile while snorkeling in India's Andaman Islands. Havelock Island, where the attack took place, lies 45 miles from the Lohabarrack Salt Water Crocodile Sanctuary. Her boyfriend caught the attack on film; the camera was recovered two days later along with her remains.
• 7 December 2010: South African outdoorsman Hendrik Coetzee was presumed killed after being attacked by a crocodile on the morning of 7 December 2010. Coetzee was leading a kayaking expedition through Congo's Lukuga River at the time of the attack.
• A 21-foot (6.4-meter) saltwater crocodile, believed to be the biggest ever captured, has been trapped in the southern Philippines on 4 September 2011 after a spate of fatal attacks. The crocodile is suspected of eating a farmer who went missing in July in the town of Bunawan, and of killing a 12-year-old girl whose head was bitten off two years ago.
• December 2011: A 12-year-old boy was killed and eaten by a crocodile while playing with his friends in Wailolong River in eastern Indonesia.
• 19 January 2012: A crocodile swallowed a 10-year-old girl as she played in Wailolong River in eastern Indonesia. Her father and older brother were hunting turtles close by. At the time of the attack, her father was 5 metres (16 ft) away, but was helpless to save her.