A footballer has been devoured by a crocodile after taking a dip at a popular swimming spot, Apasport.az reports citing The Sun.
Shocking images show the large reptile swimming through the water with the victim’s body in its jaws. Another clip shows the crocodile being shot dead in the water before locals carry its victim’s body to the riverbank.
Jesus Alberto Lopez Ortiz, nicknamed “Chucho”, was killed by the reptile on Saturday, it has been revealed by The Sun. The 29-year-old footballer was attacked by the crocodile while cooling off in the river in Rio Cañas in Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica.
Locals followed the reptile in a canoe - but a statement by local police said it was their officers who killed the crocodile.
Costa Rica’s ministry of environment and energy bans hunting or killing protected animals including crocodiles. But local police decided they had permission under the central American country’s wildlife laws “to free the body from the jaws of the reptile” and shoot the crocodile dead.
In a statement, they said: “It should be clarified that all efforts were made to rescue the body of the deceased person without causing damage to the reptile, which was not possible.”
Lopez was a footballer for amateur side Deportivo Río Cañas, as well as a dad to two children aged eight and three.
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