News of yet another gruesome reptile attack on a human has gone viral in Indonesia, this time involving a crocodile and rather strange circumstances that have led locals to believe there may have been supernatural elements at play.
On Tuesday afternoon, a 41-year-old man named Syarifuddin and his friends were bathing in the river close to their village in the Berau regency of East Kalimantan. Witnesses say that out of nowhere, a two-meter long crocodile snapped Syarifuddin with its strong jaws and dragged him into the depths of the river.
Syarifuddin’s friends reported the incident to the local police, and a search for the victim was carried out that evening.
After having no luck finding the missing man, locals and the police turned to a pawang buaya (a person claiming to have supernatural control over crocodiles) from their village to perform a calling ritual the next morning.
What happened next was captured in a video that has recently went viral in Indonesia. Local media outlet Tribunnews has a censored version of the video:
(Warning: this video contains graphic imagery)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtOoMZRw4hs
According to the police and as can be seen in the video, a crocodile seemingly answers the pawang’s call and returns with Syarifuddin’s naked dead body, dragging him through the water in its jaws. It also brought friends along with it.
“The strange thing is, there were three crocodiles that emerged in the river, as if they were guarding the victim’s body. It’s like they were dropping off the victim,” said Talisayan District Police Chief Faisal Hamid, as quoted by Warta Kota yesterday.
After locals screamed at the crocodile to let the body go, it complied and disappeared into the murky water with his friends. Locals and the authorities recovered Syarifuddin’s body and soon gave him a proper burial.
“Crocodiles live in that river, and locals also regularly bathe there. It’s just bad luck that (Syarifuddin) was snapped by a crocodile. The right side of the victim’s torso was torn open,” Faisal said.
Eet, a local man interviewed by Warta Kota, said that locals have been bathing in the same river for years and there had never been a crocodile attack before this. He believes it’s because locals have so far been good in not going against a local myth.
“If one bathes naked (in the river), they will be eaten by a crocodile. If they are clothed (while bathing), they will not be attacked by a crocodile,” he said.
The last reptilian attack on a human in Indonesia that made the news occurred in March of this year, when a giant python swallowed a man whole in West Sulawesi.
