Body of girl, 8, pulled out from croc’s stomach
THE body of an eight year old girl was retrieved from the stomach of a huge crocodile on Thursday in Roviana lagoon, Western province.
The deceased was from Rorosi village, a small village located at the entrance to the Roviana lagoon.
Reports reaching the Solomon Star said, the incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon when the deceased and two other girls were out swimming by the river mouth.
Uncle of the deceased, Robinson Gasa speaking from Olive village yesterday confirmed the young girl was snatched by the beast when they were out swimming on Wednesday.
“The poor girl was swimming along with two others of her age at the water front of Rorosi river when the monster snatched her.
“The two other terrified girls then jumped out of the water informed their parents.
“Villagers of Hapai’i and Olive were quickly informed and a search was conducted at the shoreline that whole Wednesday afternoon.”
He said they found great difficulty with the search in their attempt to locate the exact saltwater crocodile as there were many of them sheltering in the mangroves.
Mr Gasa said the villagers were then able to locate one crocodile floating about 200 meters from the Rorosi river mouth.
“It is measured about two meters and appears so huge and unmovable on the water surface, so the villagers suspect that this must have been the killer croc.”
He said, the villagers used spears and other sharp metals to pierce the body of the beast till it loses strength.
“The dead croc was towed back to the shore and its stomach was slit opened.”
He said it was sad scene when the body of this young girl was found inside the beast’s stomach.
“Some parts of her body were missing,” Mr Gasa said, adding a dead turtle was also discovered inside the beast.
The Roviana man said the remains of their niece, who is a student of Arara primary school was then put together and a decent burial took place on Friday morning.
The horrific scene of the moment the deceased was discovered from the beast’s stomach was captured by a witness using a smartphone which went viral on the social media over the Easter weekend.
A similar incident happened couple of years ago at Nusa Banga within the Roviana lagoon when a crocodile snatched a small boy around the age of 8.
Unfortunately the helpless young lad cannot be found until today.
By TEDDY KAFO