A 47-year-old man was taken after trying to wade across the East Alligator river, Northern Territory police say

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A man has been killed by a crocodile at Cahill’s Crossing in Kakadu national park.

Northern Territory police said the 47-year-old man was attempting to wade across the East Alligator river with two women about 4pm on Thursday when he was taken by a 3.5-metre saltwater crocodile. The two women, who made it across the river, did not witness the attack but raised the alarm when they saw he was gone.

He is believed to be from the nearby Arnhem Land community of Gunbalanya.

“We put some boats in the water and located the 47-year-old male 2km downstream,” Superintendent Bob Harrison told Sky News.

Cahill’s Crossing, where the national park meets Arnhem Land, is notorious for its crocodile population. Signs warn people to stay out of the water and during the dry season there are often dozens of crocodiles within view.

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On Thursday it was open only to high-clearance four-wheel drives. Between September and May it is often impassable.

Harrison described any attempt to walk across the crossing as “foolishness”.

“There has been a lot of media attention around that crossing but people continue to do it and unfortunately on this occasion somebody paid with their life,” he told the ABC.

Lothar Siebert, the West Arnhem Regional Council mayor, said discussions about a bridge had come and gone over the years. In the meantime “there was no quick fix”, and signs and boom gates were inadequate.

“If somebody wants to do a quick fix, they’re wasting the taxpayers’ money,” Siebert, who lives in Gunbalanya, told Guardian Australia. “Our locals know how infested that water is. They see what I see but they take the risk.”

Year-round road access would not just improve safety but ease the cost of living in a remote community. “They’ve got to pay $300 to $400 to go shopping on their pension or CDP [community development progam] money and, if they had a bridge, that money would be saved,” he said.

Last month seven people were rescued after spending two hours in the water when their four-wheel-drive was washed off the crossing.

In October, rangers and traditional owners called for greater safety measures there after a woman was filmed shooing away a four-metre crocodile with her thong.

In December 2015 onlookers were reportedly horrified when a man waded across the river and back again to retrieve a tow rope and rescue his car. In 1987 a 40-year-old fisherman, Kerry McLoughlin, was attacked and killed by a crocodile while standing in ankle-deep water.

Lyndon Anlezark, a local guide who filmed the October encounter, said crocodiles had dispersed during the wet season and hadn’t been seen at the crossing in a while but he pleaded with people to stop putting themselves at risk.



“Hundreds of thousands of people come through and stay away from [the crossing] but once you put yourself in proximity to it you’re in the kill zone,” he told ABC Darwin.

“It’s a sad time, it’s pretty terrible. We live in a great part of the world, with 60,000 years of continuing culture … and our thoughts go out to the family and traditional owners. It’s a horrendous time they’re going through.”







