SANDAKAN: Kinabatangan police had to fire 12 shots at a crocodile before it finally released a body part of the victim devoured by the reptile at Limddale Farm in Kampung Paris 2, in Kinabatangan here Thursday.
However, only the victim’s left leg was recovered, according to a statement from the Sabah Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) last tonight.
“The victim was found by the rescue team at 5.45pm today in the crocodile’s mouth. Police then fired 12 shots until the reptile freed the victim.
“Only the left leg remained of the victim. The act of identifying the victim was done by his family members,” the statement read.
The victim was an Indonesian man known as Roberto Martinus, 48, who was reported missing at around 6.40am on Wednesday, feared to have been snatched by a crocodile while fishing in a river on the farm.
The incident was reported to the Kinabatangan Fire and Rescue Station early in the morning, prompting a search and rescue operation involving various agencies and the public.
The operation involved searching the river within an 8-kilometre radius of the incident location using civilian boats and the ‘surface and searching’ method. – Talantang