Croc eats 'irritating' boy
April 23, 2007
The remains of a missing nine-year-old boy who "irritated" a group of crocodiles with a catapult and sticks in China was found in one of the reptile's bellies.
The crocodile, shot to death in south China during a search for the missing student, was found to contain the child's remains, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The child, surnamed Liu, disappeared Friday after he and three other children climbed over the fence around a pool in the park that had been used to stage crocodile shows, Xinhua said.
"The children shot the animals with catapults and beat them with wooden sticks," the agency said.
"One of the irritated crocodiles bit Liu's clothes and dragged him into water, where he was eaten by a swarm of crocodiles."
The crocodile was shot on Saturday in a park in Beihai, a city in the Guangxi region, by investigators looking for the missing child.
Investigators confirmed that human remains found in the reptile were that of the student, the report said.
Snipers used pork to lure the reptiles from the pool on Saturday and shot the first one that crawled ashore, the report said.
No other details were given, and it wasn't immediately clear what would happen to the other crocodiles.
Local residents said the park's owner had hired a keeper for the crocodiles, but it was not clear why the man was not at the site when the students broke in, the report said.
The manager and the keeper were being held by police.
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