MONDAY, MARCH 19, 2001
Sharpshooters to hunt crocs after another fatal attack
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Sharpshooters will hunt down killer crocodiles after another fatal attack in a river in Malaysia's eastern state of Sarawak, police said Sunday.
A villager, aged 32, was attacked and killed Friday but managed to save his two-year-old son by throwing him to his wife on the riverbank.
The man and his son were about to bathe in the Batang Lupar river when the reptile pounced near Engkilili, Bernama news agency said.
A search team has failed to find his body.
District police chief Abdul Hamid Bulat said wildlife advisers would help police sharpshooters in locating and killing crocodiles measuring 15 feet (4.5 metres) or longer in two stretches of the river.
He said police had been authorised to kill the reptiles, which are a protected species in Sarawak.
Given several other attacks in the past in the river, Abdul Hamid urged villagers and riverboat passengers to take special care.
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