Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Croc kills UK tourist after he goes to toilet
A BRITISH tourist is missing after being dragged underwater by a crocodile at a surf spot in Sri Lanka.
The man, named locally as Paul Mclean – believed to be 25 and a Financial Times reporter from England – had wandered off to go to the toilet and was washing his hands when he was snatched yesterday.
He was seen waving his hands for help before being pulled under at a lagoon known as Crocodile Rock.
Fawas Lafeer, local surf school owner, said Mr Mclean had been with someone from his hotel to learn to surf at Elephant Rock, but “they are not an instructor”.
He added: “He went in the jungle. There is a river connected to Elephant Rock and he went in. The river is deep and murky. They have sent out the Army but I doubt they will find the body. The crocodiles take the bodies along the river and hide them in the mud. Two fisherman saw the incident.”
A Scot on holiday who wants to stay anonymous said: “People last saw his arms in the air in the water, then he was grabbed under. They are 90% sure it was a crocodile but a couple of the guys said there was quicksand in the lagoon.”
Sean Carroll, of New South Wales, Australia, posted on social media: “A croc just took a tourist bloke. He was walking on a beach where a small river meets the sea, it’s named Crocodile Rock for that reason, obviously. He still hasn’t been retrieved from river. Heavy.”
Mr Mclean was said to have been on holiday with four friends near Arugam Bay on Sri Lanka’s southeast coast.
Locals reported he was staying at the East Beach Surf Resort but a man who answered the phone there said: “We do not want any reports now. Goodbye.” He then hung up.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: “We are assisting the family of a British man who has been reported missing in Sri Lanka.”
The island has two native types of crocodile, the marsh – or mugger – and the estuarine.