Human Remains Found Inside 14-Foot Crocodile Suspected to Have Killed Fisherman

Australian authorities who caught and euthanized a 13-foot crocodile found human remains inside the animal. The victim is suspected to be a 69-year-old man who went missing last week in Queensland.

Hours after Andrew Heard went missing during his fishing trip, the search party had found his boat upturned with damage hinting at a crocodile attack.

The reptile was caught on Saturday, ABC News reported. Queensland Police were preparing a report following a necropsy performed by the Department of Environment and Science.

Meanwhile, a second crocodile was caught and killed near Hinchinbrook Island on Sunday night. “Both the animals were located in the area where the missing person was expected to have been on his fishing trip,” Acting Inspector Andrew Cowie said on Monday. “The information we’ve got is the characteristics of the (second) crocodile is consistent with having been involved in this particular incident (sic).”

Andrew Heard went missing around 3 p.m. Thursday (11 p.m. ET Wednesday) after he set sail on his dinghy towards the north-west side of Hinchinbrook Island for a fishing trip.

His wife alerted the officials after Heard failed to return to their yacht. She also couldn't get any response via his radio. An aerial search was launched and the 8.2-foot dinghy was found capsized on Friday morning. Searchers also found human remains in the creek before they located the first crocodile. The reptiles were found close to where Heard's boat was discovered.

According to the police, Heard was an experienced boatie, but did not carry any safety equipment with him besides the radio.

7News also reported another angler spotting a large croc in the same area. “He would have been the length of my boat,” said Luke Nation, detailing how the 13-to-16.5 -foot crocodile bumped the hull of his tinnie. “It scared us. He definitely was giving us our marching orders, I think.”

Earlier this month, two separate crocodile attacks were reported in Queensland. A man's hand was bitten by a large crocodile at a swimming hole in Far North Queensland in one incident, and another got bitten on the head in similar circumstances. While the reptile involved in the first incident was captured and relocated, the animal in the second attack was still at large.

According to Federal MP Bob Katter, the state’s reactive crocodile-management plan had cost a human life and put others at risk.

“We aren’t talking about a crocodile issue; we are talking about the value of human life,” he said.