Crocodile eats 9-year-old boy...

2007-04-22 20:53:58 Shanghai Daily

A crocodile that was shot by police marksmen on Saturday is pulled out of a pool in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. An autopsy found the remains of a nine-year-old boy in the reptile's stomach.

SHANGHAI, April 23 -- Police marksmen in south China were called in over the weekend to shoot a crocodile that had eaten a nine-year-old boy as his friends looked on in terror.

Body parts from the child were later found in the animal's stomach.

The attack occurred on Friday in Yinhai District in Beihai, a city in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The victim, surnamed Liu, was a second-grade student at the Xiantian Primary School. He and three other students climbed over the school's gate and the fence of a pool in a nearby park that once staged crocodile shows, according to officials in Yinhai District.

The pool's caretaker was cooking a meal at the time and apparently did not see the children enter, according to a report in the Beijing News.

The children shot at the crocodiles with slingshots and poked them with wooden sticks, authorities learned later.

One of the boys, surnamed Pang, said the students often went to the park for fun, according to the Beijing Morning News.

When the boys began searching for crocodile eggs in the grass, one of the animals bit Liu and dragged him into the water.

Pang said he told Liu to come out of the pool when he saw crocodiles approaching, but his friend ignored him.

He said he tried to rescue Liu when the crocodile closed its jaws on the boy, but he fled when other crocodiles appeared ready to attack.

"Such a big one," Pang said with tears.

About 10 crocodiles surrounded Liu, the boy said.

When police arrived at the scene, they couldn't find Liu's body. Officers sealed off the park as night fell.

Local public security authorities received permission from forestry officials to kill the animal to recover evidence.

On Saturday morning, authorities used pumps to remove water from the pool. They also borrowed two snipers from the local armed police troop.

Pork was used to lure the crocodiles at 6:40pm on Saturday, and the snipers shot one whose stomach was enlarged.

Forensic medical experts later performed an autopsy on the crocodile, which was two meters long and weighed about 150 kilograms. Liu's remains were found inside.

The park manager and the pool keeper are being held by the police.

There were 11 crocodiles in the pool at the time. They were originally kept for public shows, but the park operator later went into debt and auctioned off most of the animals.

The owner then hired a custodian to keep watch over the reptiles, but local residents said he was rarely seen.






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