Australian child feared missing after crocodile attack

A desperate search is underway in northern Australia for a child believed to have been abducted by a crocodile.

The 12-year-old was last seen at dusk on Tuesday, swimming near the remote town of Nganmarriyanga, about a seven-hour drive southwest of Darwin in the Northern Territory (NT).

Police said a specialist search and rescue team was deployed after “initial reports indicated the child had been attacked by a crocodile”.

The Northern Territory is home to about 100,000 saltwater crocodiles, more than anywhere else in the world, but attacks are rare.

Members of the Nganmarriyanga community – formerly known as Palumpa and numbering just 364 people – and local police began searching for the child immediately after she went missing in Mango Creek at around 5:30pm local time (0800 GMT).

They have now been joined by additional officers and a team of search and rescue experts who are scouring both land and water.

Aerial searches could also be launched, according to local media.

NT Police Minister Brent Potter said on Wednesday afternoon the operation had entered the “recovery phase”.

“It is a tragic incident for any parent or family member to lose a young child, especially in circumstances like this, to a crocodile,” he told reporters.

In Australia, crocodiles involved in attacks on humans are typically captured and killed. Mr Potter said wildlife officers were authorised to “remove” the crocodile from the area once it was located and reiterated the government's safety message.

“We live in a place where crocodiles occupy our waterholes… it’s just a reminder to stay out of the water as much as we can.”

Found all around Australia's northern reaches – from Broome in Western Australia to Gladstone in Queensland – saltwater crocodiles were once hunted to near extinction, but their numbers have rebounded since the practice was banned in the 1970s.

Queensland, however, has seen a series of deadly attacks in recent years, including that of a 16-year-old boy killed in the Torres Strait in April.