Remains of 12-year-old girl found after crocodile attack: “Devastating”

Police have discovered the body of a missing 12-year-old girl who was believed to have been attacked by a crocodile.

The girl was reported missing on Tuesday evening local time after swimming in a river called Mango Creek in Australia’s Northern Territory, about 350 kilometers southwest of the city of Darwin.

The girl’s remains showed injuries consistent with a crocodile attack, police confirmed to local media.

“It was particularly cruel and a sad and devastating outcome,” Sergeant Erica Gibson of the Northern Territory Police told ABC. “For the family, it is the most devastating outcome they have ever experienced. They are in a state of extreme shock and bewilderment.”

The girl’s body was found on the bank of the creek on Thursday morning. Her T-shirt had been discovered late the previous evening.

At about the time the girl and her family were swimming in the river, a black crocodile was spotted.

The incident occurred just a few kilometres from the remote Aboriginal community of Nganmarriyanga. Local police were assisted by 30 to 40 members of the local community in their search for the missing girl along the river bank, as well as conducting aerial searches using boats and a helicopter.

“It has been an extremely difficult 36 hours for the first responders involved in the search,” Gibson said.

The Northern Territory is home to around 100,000 crocodiles, half of the 200,000 crocodiles found throughout Australia. The area is home to both saltwater and freshwater crocodiles, but saltwater crocodiles are by far the most dangerous due to their enormous size. Males can grow up to 7 metres long, with some rare specimens larger. They can live in both salt and freshwater and are found in rivers, estuaries, swamps and coastal areas in northern and eastern Australia, as well as in Southeast Asia, South Asia and many Pacific islands.

It is estimated that around 1,000 people are killed by saltwater crocodiles worldwide each year. In Australia, attacks by saltwater crocodiles on humans are relatively rare. According to 2017 Australian government figures, there are around one to two deaths per year.

The girl’s death is the first time there has been a fatal crocodile attack in the Northern Territories since 2018, although a teenager was killed by a crocodile in Queensland earlier this year. However, there have been other attacks in the Northern Territory recently. In January, a 9-year-old boy was in critical condition after an encounter with a crocodile.

Local police hope to catch the crocodile that attacked the young girl by setting crocodile traps along the waterway.

“It is a stark reminder to everyone that there could always be crocodiles in the area’s waterways,” Gibson said.

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