SerpApi.Org
Horrified bystanders looked on helplessly as a 12-year-old boy was dragged into a river by a crocodile on Thursday, July 17.
Desperate villagers launched bricks and stones in a bid to save him, but tragically, the boy did not survive the devastating attack. Sunil Singh was seized at the Ghaghra River in the Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh, India, on Thursday afternoon, according to authorities.
He had been helping his uncle with rice planting in a nearby paddy field and had stopped at the riverbank to wash his hands and feet before heading home. Police reported that the crocodile surged from the water without warning and snatched the boy.
His uncle, Vijay Raj Singh, raised the alarm, and local villagers working nearby rushed to help, hurling stones, bricks, and sticks at the animal in a desperate bid to force it to let go. It comes after a kayaker was killed by a crocodile in a fatal wildlife attack as their friends watched on in horror.
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Despite their frantic efforts, the crocodile held firm, repeatedly rolling and pulling Sunil beneath the surface before disappearing into the deeper stretches of the river with him.
Villagers searched the water using long bamboo poles for around five hours before recovering his body. Authorities confirmed that part of his abdomen and one leg had been bitten off.
Maurya verified the incident and noted that distressing footage of the attack had circulated online. He confirmed that Sunil's body was sent for a post-mortem examination on Friday morning.
Local reports indicated that Sunil was in sixth grade and the only boy among three sisters. His parents had reportedly passed away several years prior.
Crocodile attacks are estimated to claim approximately 1,000 lives annually across the globe, according to discoverwildlife.com. Such incidents are considered uncommon in the U.S., with the majority of attacks occurring in Africa and Southeast Asia, where human and animal territories tend to overlap more frequently.
A 2017 Cambridge University study found that crocodile attacks were more likely to take place during daylight hours than at night.
This is largely attributed to such incidents being opportunistic, occurring when people are working in close proximity to water, rather than to animals actively hunting humans. Meanwhile, a grandfather who survived a Yellowstone bison attack spoke out with heartwarming post after the horror incident.
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