(COLOMBO) – A massive hunt was launched at a key waterway in Sri Lanka’s commercial of Colombo for a crocodile that grabbed an 11-year-old who was having a bath in the river.
Police quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the crocodile had grabbed the child while he was bathing close to the river bank and dragged the boy towards the middle of the river.
The police along with navy divers and volunteers were scouting the water for the crocodile and the missing child.
They said that the boy was seen wedged between the open jaws of the crocodile that repeatedly submerged and surfaced in the open water body known as the Kelaniya River which is the widest in Sri Lanka.
Crocodile sightings are rare in the Kelaniya River since it flows down stream into the ocean and the creatures find it difficult to combat the strong currents.
However, it is believed that the crocodile may have been swept into the river from a rural waterway that has seen heavy flooding over the past few weeks.
