Farjan Idham: 15-year-old boy BEHEADED by lake crocodile as friends watch in shock
WARNING: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised
TERNATE, INDONESIA: A teen boy from Indonesia was fatally attacked by a crocodile on August 2 while he was having fun with his friends at a lake. Farjan Idham was out fishing with his pals at Lake Tolire in Ternate City when the predator mauled him.
As per reports, the 15-year-old victim was resting on a log when the crocodile suddenly appeared out of the water and shockingly dragged him into the lake's waters. His friends tried desperately to free him from the beast’s clutch but couldn’t. The crocodile apparently hit them using its tail.
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The witnesses then rushed back to the lakeshore asking for help. A search operation was initiated to find Idham. Though rescuers were able to see his body floating in the water, they only retrieved it on August 4 because crocodiles continued to swim around it. In addition, the lake's steep cliffs made the rescue operation difficult.
The Sun citing Ternate Search and Rescue Agency head, Fathur Rahman, reported that “both of his arms had been torn off, while his head had almost been severed from his neck.” The body was first reportedly taken to a funeral home before being given to his family. Following the freak accident, Lake Tolire has been shut down for sometime for visitors.
This comes almost a month after a 14-year-old girl’s life was taken away by a crocodile as she swam in water. Intan Maria Sari was savagely attacked in the Riau province of Indonesia. Sari along with her friends reportedly went to a river to wash clothes before she jumped into the water to have some fun. However, she abruptly vanished as her pals watched.
Immediately, a search operation was launched that saw the Regional Disaster Management Agency, the National SAR Agency, the army and locals coming together, and over 24 hours later, the teen’s body was discovered, her waist covered in animal bite marks. Indragiri Hulu Police public relations officer Aipda Misran said, “After washing clothes, the victim soaked in the river. She dived underneath but shouted for help upon surfacing. One of her friends saw the victim being attacked by a crocodile."
“Her body was intact, but there were scars that looked like crocodile bite marks on the waist,” Misran continued, before adding: “Residents have been warned to avoid rivers as the crocodile is likely to attack again.” Meanwhile, The Sun report noted that the Indonesian archipelago is home to a total of 14 kinds of crocodiles “with a large population of extremely large and violent estuarine crocodiles that flourish in the region's climate. Conservation officials hold blast fishing and the rapid transformation of coastal areas into farms as the two main reasons why crocodiles were encroaching on areas populated by humans.
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“With locals in the developing country still using rivers for bathing and primitive fishing, the deadly combination of factors has led to rising numbers of crocodile attacks,” the report added. Like the two above mentioned cases, in October 2021, an eight-year-old girl was also killed by a crocodile on the island of Buru in Indonesia while taking bath in the Teluk Kayeli river.
