Swimming turns into drama: 12-year-old teenager missing, potentially “attacked by a crocodile” according to police

Search teams comb a creek looking for clues (illustration). Unsplash – Daniel Pelaez Duque

The teenager, aged 12, disappeared on Tuesday July 2, 2024 evening after swimming in a creek. "Initial reports indicated that the child had been attacked by a crocodile,” according to police.

12-year-old missing in remote northern Australia may have been "attacked by crocodile"< /em>, police said this Wednesday, July 3, 2024, as search teams combed a creek looking for clues.

"Initial reports indicated that the child had been attacked by a crocodile", said in Northern Territory State Police said in a statement, adding that their officers were searching a large part of the cove by boat .

Attacks that are rare

The teenager was reported missing on Tuesday evening after swimming in a creek near Palumpa, a remote Aboriginal town about seven hours' drive southwest of Darwin, the state capital. Crocodile attacks are rare, but have been recorded in the Northern Territory, a sparsely populated region of Australia.

In mid-June, a 3.60 meter long saltwater crocodile which terrorized an Aboriginal community in northern Australia by attacking residents and devouring dogs, was himself eaten at a traditional feast, after being shot dead by the police.

The crocodile had migrated during an episode of flooding at the beginning of the year, in a river close to homes in the region, about six hours' drive to the south from Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory.