An elderly man was brutally split in half and had his head bitten off by a crocodile while he was washing himself in a river.
M Yunus, 68, from Aceh province, Indonesia, had told his wife Dimyam, 64, that he was going to bathe in the Peureulak River behind their house on Thursday.
But in a devastating turn of events, the grandfather did not return home after several hours, raising fears that he may have drowned in the water.
When Dimyam went to the river to check on her husband, she found only his clothes and mobile phone on the grassy bank.
She ran back to her village and called the local police and her family for help while fearing the worst.
M Yunus, 68, from Indonesia, was eaten by a crocodile on Thursday after telling his wife he was going for a swim in a river behind their home.
The remains of his body were collected by rescue teams and taken home for a funeral, but his upper body, head and arms have not yet been found.
Iptu Andi Ananta Grilya Utama, Ranto Peureulak police chief, said in a statement: “Suspecting that her husband had drowned, the victim’s wife informed her son who lives in Langsa.”
Emergency services, rescue teams and local volunteers searched the river but failed to find the elderly man’s body.
The search ended on the morning of August 30, when staff from the East Aceh Regional Disaster Management Agency finally discovered Yunus’ body floating downriver about a mile away from where he had left his clothes.
He was apparently caught on a wooden branch and was missing the entire upper half of his body.
Authorities believe he was attacked and eaten by a crocodile.
The remains of his body were collected and taken home for a funeral, but the upper body, head and arms have not yet been found.
They believe the killer crocodile had eaten the rest of the grandfather in the terrifying incident.
Farm workers found a huge dead crocodile, suspected of having killed Yunus, along the riverbank on August 31.
He lay lifeless in the undergrowth on the edge of a palm oil plantation.
Shocked resident Abdullah said: “We thought it was the crocodile that ate Yunus so we cut it open but found no human body parts inside.
‘People in Bhom Lama and Paya Meuligo villages are now feeling worried and reluctant to go about their normal activities around the river.’
Authorities believe Yunus was attacked and eaten by a crocodile (file photo)
The Indonesian archipelago is home to 14 types of crocodiles, with a large population of extremely large and violent estuarine crocodiles that thrive in the region’s climate.
Conservationists believe the crocodiles have been pushed inland, closer to villages, because of overfishing, which reduces their natural food supplies, coupled with habitat loss due to the development of coastal areas into farms.
As uneducated inhabitants of developing countries still use rivers for bathing and fishing in primitive ways, the deadly combination of factors has led to an increase in the number of crocodile attacks.
This comes after a grandmother in Indonesia was mauled to death by a 12ft crocodile last month as horror footage showed authorities recovering her body from the belly of the beast.
Halima Rahakbauw, 54, was washing pots in a river in Wali village in the Maluku Islands after spending the morning searching for clams when the reptile attacked her.
After finding a sandal and part of a leg in the river, the villagers reported the incident to the police, who found the crocodile eating the woman’s body and shot it dead.
In 2018, a mob in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua massacred nearly 300 crocodiles in revenge after a local man was killed by one of the reptiles.
In 2019, a scientist was dragged into his enclosure by a massive captive crocodile and killed on the island of Sulawesi.