Northern Territory police have found human remains belonging to a 12-year-old girl, who has been missing since Tuesday and is suspected to have been taken by a crocodile in a nearby creek.
The child was reportedly attacked by a crocodile in Mango Creek near the remote community of Palumpa on Tuesday afternoon, prompting an extensive search effort involving police, local families and members of NT Parks and Wildlife.
NT Police Senior Sergeant Erica Gibson said the girl’s remains were found in the waterway on Thursday morning.
“The recovery has been made,” she told the ABC in Palumpa, about 360 kilometres south-west of Darwin.
“It was particularly gruesome and a sad and devastating outcome.”
Senior Sergeant Gibson said the child and her family were swimming at the creek, which is just over 3km from Palumpa, as part of bush holidays in the Wadeye district.
Much of the access to Palumpa is on unsealed road. It is about 45km east of the large remote community of Wadeye.
Senior Sergeant Gibson confirmed the remains showed injuries consistent with a crocodile attack.
“It was an extremely difficult 36 hours for the first responders involved in the search,” she said.
“However for the family, it is the most devastating outcome possible.
“They are in a state of extreme shock and disbelief.”
The girl’s death marks the first fatal crocodile attack in the NT since 2018, when an Indigenous ranger was killed in north-east Arnhem Land.
Senior Sergeant Gibson said crocodile traps have since been placed in the waterway, with local rangers and police monitoring the animals’ movements.
“It is a salient reminder to everyone that waterways in the territory could always have crocodiles in them,” she said.
Senior Sergeant Gibson said residents from surrounding homelands have travelled to Palumpa to support the girl’s family.
“They are all onsite supporting the close family involved in this incredibly tragic incident,” she said.
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