The remains of a missing hotel owner in South Africa have been found in the stomach of a huge crocodile. The grim discovery was made when the crocodile, about 15 feet long, was caught in a special operation, lifted from the river by air and cut open. A video of the incident has already gone viral on social media.

Hotel owner Gabriel Batista, 59, is believed to have been swept away by strong floodwaters last week into the Komati River, which is full of crocodiles. He was attacked by a crocodile there.

Rescuers searched for several days for the "man-eating" crocodile. It was eventually killed so that the remains could be recovered. Officials said the crocodile weighed more than 1,000 pounds.

Video shows a police commander being lowered from a helicopter to tie up the crocodile. The huge reptile was then strapped into a harness and lifted away by air.

When rescuers cut open its unusually swollen stomach, they found two severed hands, half a ribcage and pieces of flesh. Officials believe a ring on one finger belonged to Batista.

Strikingly, at least six pairs of shoes were also recovered from the crocodile's stomach, none of them Batista's. DNA tests on the body parts are still under way.

Authorities are checking whether the shoes are linked to missing local people or villagers. It is not yet known whether Batista drowned before the crocodile attacked him, and investigators have not ruled out that parts of his body may be in the stomach of another crocodile.

Captain Johan Potgieter, who led the operation, said the whole area was searched for several days to identify the suspect crocodile. The huge animal was lying motionless in the sun, its stomach unusually full, a sign it had eaten recently.

He said it did not react to the noise of the drone or the helicopter and made no attempt to return to the water. "That made us sure it was the one," he said.

After permission was given to kill the crocodile, Potgieter agreed to go down into the river himself, at some risk, to tie it up.

"A lot could have gone wrong. I was lowered on a rope straight to the crocodile's mouth. I thought it was dead," he said.

"There were two other crocodiles nearby, watching. I quickly tied the harness around its waist and fastened it firmly under the front legs. When I signalled the helicopter, I was lifted up." The crocodile was then taken to a designated site, where its stomach was cut open.

The incident has spread fear among local people and raised fresh concerns about safety along the river.

The report is based on the New York Post.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.