Huge Crocodile Drags Teenager Into River In Front Of Brother; Victim's Body Not Found

A teenager in India was attacked and dragged into a deep river by a crocodile while fishing.

The boy was fishing with his younger brother in Kharasrota river in the eastern state of Odisha on Wednesday when he was attacked. The victim – identified as Soumyaranjan Mallick of Kaharaganda village – was near the water body when the crocodile leaped out and dragged the boy away. His younger brother raised an alarm after he noticed the crocodile attacking Soumyaranjan.

Within minutes some locals rushed to the spot and carried out a search operation. However, as of Thursday morning, they were unable to find the victim, Kalinga TV reported. The boy's exact age was not revealed.

“Soumyaranjan Mallick of Udayanathpur panchayat had gone to the river for fishing. He has been dragged into the river by a crocodile. ODRAF (Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force) team are yet to locate the body of the victim but have seen the crocodile basking on the bank of the river. I will speak to the Collector and the SRC (Special Relief Commissioner) and extend whatever help is possible from the government,” Sunanda Das, a local politician who visited the scene of the attack, said, according to Ommcom News.

Das also visited the victim’s family and conveyed her sympathies for the horrific tragedy.

In a recent report, Odisha TV said the increase in the population of large semi-aquatic reptiles has led to a rise in the instances of conflict between crocodiles and human beings residing in the riverside areas. As per official data, a total of 26 people have been killed in the human-crocodile interaction over the past 12 years. Three people have died in the attack in the last three months only.

In another recent incident in the southern state of Karnataka, a crocodile was found swimming in a river with the partially-eaten body of a boy. The reptile had attacked the child just two days before the body of the victim was found. The forest, fire and police departments began searching for the 15-year-old boy after he was attacked and dragged away by the crocodile into the Kali River. Later, the police found the crocodile, but were unable to catch it. When rescue teams approached the crocodile it escaped after dropping the body in the water.