Officer airlifts 15-ft crocodile that ate missing hotel owner alive

A South African police captain airlifted a crocodile from the river to recover a massive reptile that is suspected of eating a missing hotel owner.

The officer, Captain Johan Potgieter, a veteran officer with nearly four decades of experience, was dangling from a rope over the Komati River while tying a 4.5-meter (15-feet) crocodile thought to be responsible for the death of 59-year-old Gabriel Batista. The man died after he was washed away from his car when he tried to cross the flooded bridge.

The reptile was euthanized by the officers before the aerial mission started. But during the airlift, the animal faced danger from the dangerous waters surrounded by other crocodiles and hippos.

While talking to the BBC, Potgieter said: “Then I knew it was 10 per cent dead, because if it wasn’t it would have definitely attacked me.”

The video captured the captain and the crocodile suspended by a helicopter rope prior to their transport to a landing site. Upon the crocodile’s dissection, it was found that there were human body parts inside the animal, such as two severed arms, one half ribcage, and a ring belonging to Batista.

Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane appreciated the officer’s “extraordinary bravery,” saying he went “far beyond the call of duty” in an operation that could risk his life.