2 Residents Of Tanggamus Attacked By Crocodiles, 1 Missing Person

Illustration of the SAR Team conducting search and rescue operations (ANTARA)

Two residents of Tanggamus Regency, Lampung, were attacked by a crocodile. One person managed to survive, while one other person is still being searched. The two victims, who are housewives (IRT), were attacked by crocodiles while on the river.

Two housewives (IRT), residents of Sri Purnomo Village, Sembunda District, Tanggamus, Lampung, were attacked by crocodiles while working on the Way Sembika River, last Monday.

From this incident, one person managed to survive with a scratch on the shoulder, while another person is still being searched.

The two victims were attacked at different times. One victim named Painah was attacked by a crocodile at around 07.00 WIB, Monday morning.

51-year-old IRT managed to survive a crocodile attack despite being injured on the right shoulder. Another victim, Ngatini (58) was attacked by a crocodile at around 12.00 WIB.

Unlike Painah, Ngatini was declared missing after being attacked by a crocodile. The joint SAR team was dispatched to the scene to search for victims.

By using a rubber boat, the SAR team searched for victims by combing the river around the scene. Not only the SAR team, residents also searched for victims manually by combing the riverbanks.

Purwarto (50), a resident of Sri Purnomo Village, said that the victim Nantini was attacked by a crocodile while defecating on the riverbank.

"This morning the victim threw garbage and then defecated on the riverbank. The victim was attacked by a crocodile while defecating," Purwanto said in his statement, Tuesday, June 25.

Purwanto said the SAR team arrived at the scene at around 15.00 WIB. Although a search effort has been carried out for 1 hour, the Nantini victim has not been found.

"We residents of Sri Purnomo hope that the victim can be found soon, please pray for it," said Purwanto.

Head of the Water Police Unit (Kasat Pol Air) of Tanggamus Police, Iptu Zulkarnaen confirmed that two residents of Sri Purnomo Village were victims of crocodile attacks.

"It's true, there are two residents who were attacked by crocodiles. One other victim is still being searched," said Zulkarnaen on the sidelines of the search for victims.

Zulkarnaen explained that the distance from the incident of the two victims who were attacked by the crocodile was only 10 meters away.

"The distance is not too far, maybe about 10 meters between the first victim and the second victim," explained Iptu Zulkarnaen.

As of Monday evening, the search efforts carried out by the joint SAR team had not succeeded in finding the Nanti victims. Search efforts will resume on Tuesday morning.