Jeffery Masing Win, 21, was cooling off in the shallow water in Malaysia, when the crocodile sucked him under the water and his body has still not been recovered
A young man is feared to have been eaten alive by a crocodile that snatched him as he swam alongside his horrified brother.
Trainee electrician Jeffery Masing Win was enjoying the freshwater of the Sungai Semanok River in Malaysia, when the beast came from nowhere on Saturday evening. His desperate sibling, hearing his cries for help, tried to prise open the reptile’s jaws but the 21-year-old was dragged beneath the murky water and disappeared.
Attempts to alert emergency services were delayed due to the remote location of the area – a riverside orchard with poor phone coverage. Firefighters and search and rescue volunteers were deployed. A spokesman for the Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department said they were unable to reach the spot directly because the river was too shallow and narrow, forcing crews to begin the search from an estuary around 500 metres away.
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The spokesman said: “Search operations are being conducted in conjunction with other agencies, with a focus on the area where the victim was reportedly attacked.’ The search and rescue team was divided into two groups to scour both land and water, but despite their efforts, Jeffery is yet to be found..”
I Mumin Anda, operations commander, said on Sunday: “The search continued until 5 pm, covering a radius of five kilometres from the river mouth, but the victim has still not been found. The operation was suspended on the advice of the Tatau Police and will resume tomorrow at 8am.”
On September 18, a schoolboy was also killed by a crocodile in the same state. Arif Fahmi Aiman Mohammad Tinggal, 12, was alone on his boat as he cast the fishing equipment into the Sungai Kampung Empila river. Unaware of the danger lurking nearby, the youngster leaned into the water only to be snatched by a crocodile.
His body surfaced some 33 feet away two hours later, with bite marks across his torso and chest. Crocodile attacks remain a persistent threat in Sarawak, especially along rivers and estuaries where saltwater crocodiles are widespread. The state has some of Malaysia’s highest rates of crocodile encounters, usually involving fishermen or villagers bathing on riverbanks. Authorities have tried to reduce casualties with periodic culls, warning signs and public awareness campaigns.
Also this month, a family’s dream holiday to Disney World became a living nightmare when their two-year-old toddler was snatched by an alligator, with the dad desperately fighting to retrieve his child from its jaws. Lane Graves’ body was recovered from the deep water of the lake in the supposed dream-land as his horrified parents watched on after they were unable to fight the seven-foot beast off in 2016.
Following a painful 16-hour search and rescue effort by dozens of emergency personnel using sonar equipment and helicopters, divers found and recovered the body of the two-year-old. “There’s no question in my mind that the child was drowned by the alligator,” Orange County sheriff Jerry Demings had said at a press conference. It was a tough message to deliver to them. The family was distraught but somewhat relieved we were able to retrieve their son with his body intact.”
The boy was snatched from the shoreline of the Seven Seas Lagoon, an artificial lake at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, at about 9.30pm on Tuesday June 14. The family, from Nebraska, had been at the resort since the Sunday and were outside for an evening of open-air films and firework displays.
Jeff Williamson, spokesman for the Orange County sheriff’s office, said the family, including the boy’s four-year-old sister, were on the shoreline at the resort’s lake, with the toddler wading at the edge of the water with his parents close by.