The remains of an Australian man who went missing while fishing with friends have been found inside a crocodile.
Kevin Darmody, 65, was last seen in Kennedy Bend – a popular saltwater crocodile habitat in a remote part of north Queensland – on Saturday.
After two days of searching the area, police found two large crocodiles dead and human body parts.
Police said it was a “tragic end” for Mr Dermody. A formal identification process will be carried out.
Mr. Darmody was an experienced fisherman and a well-known member of the community in Cape York.
The two crocodiles, measuring 4.1m (13.4 ft) and 2.8m in length, were killed on Monday about 1.5 km (0.9 mi) from where it was last seen.
Human remains were found inside only one of the reptiles, but wildlife officials believe both were involved.
The fishermen with Mr Darmody at the time did not see the attack, but heard his screams, followed by a loud splash.
“I ran downstairs… but there was no sign of him, just his thongs [flip-flops] on the edge and nothing else,” his friend John Petty told the Cape York Weekly.
Crocodiles are common in Australia’s tropical north, but attacks are rare. Mr Darmody’s death is just the 13th fatal attack in Queensland since record-keeping began in 1985.
A fisherman was killed by a crocodile in similar circumstances on Queensland’s Hinchinbrook Island in 2021, and there were also fatal attacks in the state’s far north in 2017 and 2016.
Since hunting was banned in 1974, Queensland’s crocodile population has declined from a low of about 5,000 animals to about 30,000 today.
A 2019 report suggested that there were an average of 1.7 adult crocs per kilometer of river surveyed.
Under Queensland’s management program, “problem crocodiles” are removed from areas where they pose a threat to public safety and, in rare cases, are subject to cruelty.
This number is dwarfed by Australia’s Northern Territory (NT), which is home to the largest wild crocodile population in the world, with approximately 100,000 of the reptiles.
Despite publicity campaigns to be “crocodile oriented” around rivers, the area has averaged 1-2 deaths from crocodile attacks each year since 2005, but none since 2018.
