Crocodile kills 80-year-old man on Indonesia's Sumatra island

A crocodile has attacked and killed an 80-year-old man on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, local press reported on Monday.

The man wanted to wash his feet in the shallow waters of the Way Semaka River in the south of the island after cutting grass in his garden, local authorities said. The victim's property was said to border directly on the river.

"A witness saw him leave his clothes on the riverbank and noticed a crocodile behaving suspiciously in the water," the local police chief told the Antara news agency. An hour later, the reptile reportedly reappeared with the man's body in its jaws.

The animal dragged the corpse about 200 metres, according to the newspaper Kompas. Villagers then threw stones at the crocodile to make it release its prey.

"The crocodile eventually let go of its victim, but the man was already dead when he was recovered," the police added, urging residents to exercise extreme caution near the river, as it is a popular crocodile habitat.

In May, another man was killed in a crocodile attack on Sumatra, this time in a canal. Between 2015 and 2024, 1,167 people in Indonesia were attacked by crocodiles, according to the organization CrocAttack - far more than in any other country in the world. Of these attacks, 556 were fatal.

The world's largest island nation, Indonesia, is home to various crocodile species, but most conflicts involve the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), also known as the estuarine crocodile. This species is the largest and most dangerous type of crocodile and is found throughout South-east Asia and Australia.