Remains found in search for 12-year-old following reported crocodile attack in Australia

By Issy Ronald, CNN

(CNN) — Australian police believe they have found the remains of a 12-year-old child reportedly attacked by a crocodile while swimming in a creek in the Northern Territory, they said on Thursday.

“This is devastating news for the family, the community and everyone involved in the search,” senior sergeant Erica Gibson said in a statement.

“Police are providing support to the family and community, along with the first responders who attended the scene.”

The child was reported missing on Tuesday evening after swimming in Palumpa, also known by its Aboriginal name Nganmarriyanga, a remote town of around 350 people, seven hours by road from the Northern Territory’s capital, Darwin.

A search and rescue operation with community assistance was launched to find the child, and police scoured a large section of the creek by boat, they said on Wednesday.

The search team was authorized to “remove the crocodile from the area,” Northern Territory police minister Brent Potter said, according to CNN affiliate 7news. By Thursday, efforts to capture the animal were still ongoing, Gibson added, per The Associated Press.

There are more than 100,000 crocodiles – which can grow up to six meters (20 feet) long – in the Northern Territory, though fatal attacks are relatively rare.

Palumpa has witnessed similar incidents in recent years. A 54-year-old suffered bites to his chest and arm when he was attacked by a 2-meter-long (6.6-foot) crocodile in 2017, 7news reported, while four years earlier, a saltwater crocodile that was reportedly blocking children’s route to school was shot dead.

Since crocodiles became a protected species in Australia in the 1970s, their population has grown rapidly in the north, as has the number of large crocodiles because they continue to grow as they age and can live up to 70 years old, AP reported.

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Additional reporting from Reuters.