While playing in a river close to his house in Costa Rica, an 8-year-old kid was attacked and killed by a huge crocodile in front of his frightened family.
Horrifying Incident
On October 30, the young victim Julio Otero Fernández was attacked by the reptile, which then severed his head before dragging him into the Matina River near Limón, where he was never seen alive again, according to a report from the New York Post.
Then, on Saturday, over a month after the child’s horrific murder, a hunter who has not been named is said to have shot and killed a crocodile nearby. The villagers opened up the beast’s stomach and found what they assumed to be Julio’s bone pieces and hair within.
The 8-year-old died while on a fishing excursion with his parents, four siblings, and other family members.
Around 2 p.m. Julio was in the river on October 30 standing in knee-deep water when the big crocodile rushed at him.
Eyewitness Narrated the Incident
An eyewitness narrated the details of the incident, saying it shook him and pulled off his small skull. Then it seized him once again and pulled him underwater. Don Julio Otero and Margini Fernández Flores, Julio’s parents, watched helplessly as their son was mauled by the crocodile
The sight of the crocodile floating off with my son’s body, according to Otero, was the toughest for his wife. The father said the crocodile reappeared more than an hour later with the body of his child still in its mouth.
According to the Spanish-language news source La Nacion, he said police officers who had arrived on the scene declined to shoot the animal, claiming they lacked the “power” to do so.
The father said he felt abandoned by the authorities. He added that an animal is worth more than a human being. Four years prior, the couple moved their family from Nicaragua to Costa Rica so they could work on a banana farm.
Now that crocodiles are protected creatures in Costa Rica, the parents are preparing to return home with their four remaining children, who range in age from 3 to 16. This is to safeguard the children from the crocodiles.
Who killed the crocodile over the weekend is still a mystery. After shooting the reptile, the hunter ran away from the scene, which is against the law in the Caribbean country.
Hair and bones were found inside the dead crocodile’s carcass, according to Julio’s mother. The local authorities received the human remains and will do DNA testing on them.
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