A missing man who had been taken from his boat in Australia's remote north has been recovered as human remains from a large crocodile, authorities said.
After a 62-year-old man was reportedly snatched at a waterhole on the South Alligator River, Northern Territory's Kakadu National Park rangers began a search through the night, CNN News reported.
Two saltwater crocodiles were shot dead by rangers in the Northern Territory's Kakadu National Park on Sunday.
One of the crocodiles, measuring around 15.5 feet (4.7 meters), contained human remains, police told reporters Sunday. A statement on the Northern Territory Police Force Facebook page said the victim's body had been recovered and a report would be prepared for the Coroner.
The tragic incident occurred when the man had been out fishing with his son, wife and daughter-in-law, Northern Territory Police Sgt. Andrew Hocking said.
The victim's family failed to save him despite witnessing the attack.
The man's wife and daughter-in-law had to drive for two hours to alert authorities about the attack due to poor cellphone coverage across large parts of the remote region, according to the Northern Territory News.
Police and park rangers searched the area with a helicopter and boats over the weekend, and found two large crocodiles about a mile (1.5 kilometers) from where the man was last seen, according to Hocking.
The victim's name has not been released by the police, according to CNN News.
"This is a tragic event and our thoughts are with the family during this very difficult time," said Commander Bruce Porter of the Northern Command.
A crocodile expert, Grahame Webb, said it is unusual for the reptiles to attack at this time of year since they are rarely active during the cooler months, local media reported.
"They tend to move around a lot more when it warms up... and that's when they're more dangerous," he said.
The crocodile-infested waters of Kakadu National Park make it a notoriously hazardous area for humans. But most attacks involve swimmers, not people on boats, according to a study in the Wilderness & Environmental Medicine journal.
