Man Snatched By A Crocodile In Australia

A 24-year-old man was snatched by a crocodile in front
of at least 15 onlookers as he swam across a northern
Australian river with a friend, the police said Sunday.
Northern Territory police said the man was with a
group celebrating a birthday at the Mary River
Wilderness Retreat, about 110 kilometres from Darwin,
on Saturday when he decided to dive into the water.
"They were watching him swim across," senior sergeant
Geoff Bahnert told AFP of the group.
"And they just saw a crocodile with him in its jaws."
Police conducted a search for the man, but were
unsuccessful. The search was continuing Sunday,
Bahnert said, adding that the largest crocodile at the
site had been shot and killed as a precaution.
Reports suggested the man had ignored warnings not
to swim in the river because of the risk of a crocodile
attack.
"We tell people to stay away from the water, they
obviously went against this (and) a man was taken," an
employee with the resort, Erin Bayard, told News Corp
Australia.
"We say to everybody it's full of crocs. It's one of the
most populated rivers in the Territory, every couple of
kilometres there is a large croc."
Saltwater crocodiles, which can grow up to seven
metres (23 feet) long and weigh more than a tonne, are
a common feature of Australia's tropical north.
They have been protected since the 1970s and their
numbers have increased steadily since, along with the
number of human encounters.
In December, a nine-year-old boy was taken by a four-
metre crocodile while swimming in the Northern
Territory, one month after a seven-year-old girl went
missing while swimming, also in the north.
Source: Thenews