Crocodile Mauls Child to Death in Front of Horrified Parents

An eight-year-old boy was dragged underwater and mauled to death by a crocodile in front of his horrified parents while paddling in shallow water in a river near his home in Costa Rica.

Julio Otero Fernández was wading knee-deep in the Matina River in Limón, eastern Costa Rica, when the reptile lunged at him, pulled him under and killed him.

Julio's distraught parents have urged authorities to find the crocodile and kill it.

The boy's body has still not been found, and emergency services have run into difficulty with their search in recent days due to heavy rain.

Parents Don Julio and Margini Fernández Flores were so traumatized by their son's death, they plan to move to Nicaragua to try and protect their other young children, aged between three and 16.

Don Julio told the Mail Online: "The hardest thing for my wife was seeing the crocodile float with my son's body."

Flores said it has been very difficult for the family, adding: 'It is impossible to continue living in Matina because in every corner of the house we find something that reminds us of Julito, that causes us a lot of pain.

"We can't be here, because we spend every time remembering how nice it was to have him here with us.

"I am not going to stay here, because just as they protect those animals, they are capable of leaving the river to attack more people and the truth is that it is scary that something like this will happen again.

"My other children act strong, but one realises that they are sad. Whenever we remember what happened, it is impossible not to shed tears."

Tatiana Díaz, regional director of the Limón Red Cross, has tried to explain the attack.

"One hypothesis is that the animal took the child to the burrow or cave, and there are burrows and caves, but we don't know which one of them it is. We have tried to cover and visualize some, we have implemented a hook with a strip to see if it pulls something, but to no avail.

"Since we don't know which cave it is, or which crocodile because there are several, it's very difficult to focus on a single point.

"We know that there are crocodiles and burrows, but we don't have a notion or a pattern to work on."

Newsweek has contacted crocodile experts for comment.

An estimated 1,000 people every year are killed in crocodile attacks, many more than by sharks.

On November 3, a man was dragged underwater by a crocodile while swimming in the Kali River, in India's Uttara Kannada district, Newsroom Odisha reported. It is unclear whether the attack was fatal.

In October, a man fought a crocodile with a knife while it held his friend's head in its jaws.

And in July, a woman in Florida died after she fell into a pond and was attacked by two alligators.

In August 2020, the remains of a 14-year-old boy were cut from a crocodile's stomach after the reptile ate him alive.