Australian police find human remains in crocodile

Sydney: Australian police on Sunday found human remains inside a large crocodile that is believed to have snatched a man from a boat in a popular national park.

Police found the remains inside a 4.7-metre saltwater crocodile that park rangers shot while searching for a 62-year-old man who was attacked in Kakadu National Park on Saturday, Northern Territory Police Sergeant Andrew Hocking said.

The crocodile was one of two that were shot about 1.5 kilometres from the spot where the man was attacked, Hocking said.

Police were told the man, whose name has not been released, was on a boat with his wife, son and daughter-in-law when the crocodile snatched him.

The remains have not yet been formally identified. An investigation into the exact circumstances of the attack is underway.

It was the second deadly crocodile attack this year in Kakadu. In January, a 12-year-old boy was killed and his friend mauled by a crocodile as they swam in a water hole in the park.

Crocodile numbers have swelled across Australia’s tropical north since the species was protected by federal law in 1971. The crocodile population is densest in the Northern Territory, where Kakadu is located.