Crocodile drags grandfather to his death in its jaws as brave villagers fight beast with sticks

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

An Indonesian grandfather was mauled to death by a crocodile and dragged around in the beast's jaws in front of terrified villagers on the banks of the Semaka River in Lampung, Indonesia yesterday.
Footage shows the 10ft crocodile swimming away with the 80-year-old man, named only as Wasim, in its mouth as onlookers armed with sticks bravely chased it from the banks.
The reptile was said to have violently attacked Wasim as he bathed in the river near his home in the Tanggamus Regency in southern Indonesia.
The elderly man was unable to shout for help as the croc pulled him under the surface.
A villager found Wasim's clothes on the riverbank and gathered other locals to help look for him, when they suddenly him being dragged by the crocodile in the water.
Fearless residents then rushed into the shallow river with sticks, as footage shows them frantically battering the beast.
Semaka Police Chief AKP Sutarto said: 'The victim was found within an hour or at 13.00 WIB, after the crocodile emerged carrying him in its mouth.
'After being struck several times, the crocodile finally released the victim's body. But when recovered, he was already in a lifeless state.'
Wasim's son-in-law Samugi said: 'It was just a normal day for us. We didn't expect it to end tragically like this.'
The police chief added that Wasim had suffered jagged wounds on his back and shoulders.
Cops have urged residents to be more careful when in the river to prevent similar attacks from occurring.
Indonesia suffers the most crocodile attacks in the world.
There were at least 1,000 incidents over the past decade - though many more are believed to have been unreported.
The recent tragedy comes after a teenage boy was mauled to death in Indonesia by a crocodile in front of his horrified friend last month.
La Bayu, 17, was fishing with his friend Inguu in the Kaleleha River in Southeast Sulawesi on June 2 when he was snatched by the huge beast.
Horrific footage taken by a rescue team shows the teen's body being dragged along the river by the killer croc as the predator held his lifeless body in its jaws.
Following the bloody attack, Inguu leapt into the river and tried to grapple with the powerful animal in a desperate attempt to save his friend.
However, the animal flung Inguu away as it continued thrashing La Bayu in a gruesome death roll.
Rescue workers and residents used a net to catch the animal and collect the victim's butchered corpse.
La Bayu was reportedly found with severe injuries near his armpit, a fractured right arm, a severed left hand, and a torn waist.
The Indonesian archipelago is home to 14 types of crocs - with a large population of extremely large and violent estuarine crocodiles that flourish in the region's climate.
Conservationists believe that crocodiles have been driven further inland and closer to villages due to overfishing reducing the crocodiles' natural food supply combined with habitat loss from the development of coastal areas into farms.
Widespread tin mining has also caused villagers to encroach on the crocodiles' natural habitats, pushing the creatures closer toward people's homes.
With locals in the developing country still using rivers for bathing and fishing, the deadly combination of factors has led to a rising number of crocodile attacks.