Huge crocodile decapitates Manobo girl

MANILA, Philippines - A huge crocodile knocked over a boat in a lake in Agusan del Sur and decapitated a 12-year-old Manobo girl late Tuesday afternoon, police said.

The girl, Rowena Romano, and a classmate, Jennifer Rodrigo, were on their way to their floating school on the Mihaba Lake, which forms part of the Agusan Marsh, when the crocodile, said to be 30 feet long, bumped the boat, causing it to capsize, police said.

Rescuers found the girl’s headless body floating on the lake Wednesday morning.

Rodrigo was rescued by Tata Dagaas who was escorting the pair in another boat, said Ruel Hipulan, head of the Save Mindanao Volunteers Inc., a non-government organization that runs the school in the remote town of Rosario.

“It’s a monster crocodile,” Hipulan said, adding that officials were hunting the animal following the attack.

Police said the crocodile was huge even for the large saltwater crocodiles known to inhabit the Agusan Marsh.

Attacks are rare. But the marsh has been swollen for the past several months, causing fish to scatter to others parts. With little to feed on, the crocodiles have become aggressive, Hipulan said.

The crocodile attack has prompted the temporary closure of the floating school and the evacuation of about 100 Manobos living on houses on stilts on the lake, he added.

Last January, a huge crocodile also attacked a resident.

The Agusan Marsh covers a total area of 113,000 hectares, a part of which – more than 14,000 hectares – was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1995.

Comprising the marsh, a sanctuary of soft-shelled turtles, freshwater crocodiles, Oriental darters, purple herons and other species, are 56 lakes and the huge Agusan River.  – AP, Ben Serrano