Remains of child found inside crocodile

The remains of a nine-year-old Namibian boy snatched by a crocodile on the Angolan side of the Okavango River on Friday morning were found on Sunday.

Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism spokesperson Romeo Muyunda reported that the crocodile was killed on Sunday – two days after it had caught the boy about 20 kilometres east of Rundu.

The victim was visiting his grandmother in Angola and was attacked by a crocodile while at the river with other children, at around 08h00 on Friday.

Muyunda reported: “The boy was caught on Friday, the search for the body started and the team could only retrieve a few parts. Today, the crocodile was hunted and put down, leading to the discovery of more parts inside the crocodile.”

The search for the boy’s body was carried out by officials of the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, assisted by a resident of the village Mayana, Marno van der Merwe, and his son, who was the skipper of the boat used in the search.

Muyunda described the incident as horrific and warned residents living in human-wildlife conflict zones to be vigilant against potential attacks by wild animals.

“We regret this incident and express our deepest sympathies to the family,” he said.

Two other people in the Kavango East region also lost their lives due to crocodile attacks last week.