written by Caitlin Berard January 24, 2023 11:28 am

https://outsider.com/outdoors/news-outdoors/enormous-crocodile-carries-body-drowned-child-back-his-family/

After tragically losing their son in a drowning accident, a family was reunited with his body when a crocodile pulled him back to the surface, gently carrying the boy to an awaiting rescue crew in the water.

In the shocking footage, the mammoth reptile carries the body of the 4-year-old boy toward a rescue boat. It then leaves him within reach of the rescuers, who retrieve him from the water and bring him back to his family.

The small boy was later identified as Muhammad Ziyad Wijaya, the child who went missing two days prior near the Jawa Estuary on the island of Borneo in the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan, according to Newsweek. Members of the East Kalimantan Basarnas Search and Rescue Agency had been searching for the boy for days when the crocodile unexpectedly delivered him to them.

“Around seven in the morning the team received information from the family that they saw a crocodile carrying a human body,” Melkianus Kotta, head of the East Kalimantan Basarnas Search and Relief Office, told a local news outlet. “It turned out that the body was the child we were looking for.”

Crocodile Delivers Small Boy’s Body Completely Unharmed

To the rescuers’ surprise, the crocodile carried the toddler’s body a full mile from where officials suspect he drowned. After placing him within reach of the rescue boat, the croc simply disappeared below the surface.

The bizarre rescue became even more shocking after a preliminary examination of the body. Through the exam, officials learned that the crocodile hadn’t left so much as a single wound on the boy. There were no bite marks, no missing limbs, no injuries at all. “Nothing is missing; everything is intact,” Kotta explained.

As far as rescuers can tell, the crocodile’s only intention was to help return the boy to his fellow humans. “We think the crocodile actually aided in the search for the victim,” Kotta said.

A Similar Incident Occurred in 2017

Every year, crocodiles devour at least 1,000 people worldwide. That said, though they’re more than capable of eating humans, the ancient reptiles have also been known to assist humans now and then.

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In 2017, for example, a similar situation to Muhammad Ziyad Wijaya’s occurred. A crocodile pulled a 41-year-old man named Syarifuddin into the water not far from where the toddler drowned. To get him back, villagers called in the help of a “crocodile charmer,” asking that he make the croc return Syarifuddin.

After the charmer performed the necessary ritual, a crocodile suddenly appeared in the water, a dead body clutched in its massive jaws. The reptile left the body on the riverbank, which officials later identified as the missing man. Whether it was the same croc who took the man in the first place remains unclear.

Many, however, praised the crocodile for its efforts all the same. “If the crocodile intended to eat a human, there would be no flesh left,” one user said. “Some animals have good intentions.”