In a tragic incident in East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia, a mother washing clothes in a river and her son, who was later looking for her body, were both killed by presumably the same crocodile. This incident underscores the escalating conflict between humans and wildlife in the region.
Alvina Doki, 64, was laundering clothes in the Ledewero River on Wednesday, February 5, when a large crocodile attacked her. Her husband, Gabriel Sinyo, 60, witnessed the event and tried to save her by pelting rocks at the crocodile, but the reptile pulled her underwater and disappeared.
Henry Novika Chandra, the regional police commissioner, said, “The victim was attacked by a crocodile while washing clothes. Currently, her body has not been found. Our members together with the local community are still continuing the search. Hopefully the victim’s body will be found soon.”
That evening, while searching for his mother’s body, Wilsilius Lomi, 35, was separated from the other search party members. He was attacked by what authorities suspect was the same crocodile. His body was found the next morning.
Assistant Commissioner Yusuf Tarapadjang provided more information about the recovery, “We finally found Wilsilius’ body about 550 yards from where he was attacked. His body had several claw and tearing wounds. The body was intact, there were only wounds on the legs and stomach from being attacked by the crocodile.”
This incident is part of a growing trend of crocodile attacks in Indonesia. Over the past ten years, the country has seen over 1,000 crocodile attacks leading to 486 fatalities. The Bangka-Belitung province alone has recorded more than 60 deaths since 2016.
Another deadly attack occurred in December when a 13-foot crocodile killed Nurhawati Zihura, 46, near Deaa Orahili Beach in North Sumatra. Witnesses reported the crocodile performing a death roll before submerging her underwater. Locals attempted to retrieve her body by throwing dead chickens into the water to distract the crocodile when it resurfaced with her body.
Increasing attacks are notably evident in regions affected by mining activities. In August 2024, a 54-year-old woman, Halima Rahakbauw, was killed while swimming in a river in Wali village, eastern Indonesia. After killing the 13-foot reptile, villagers found parts of her body.
More recently, in the Bangka-Belitung Islands, a five-year-old girl known as Chaca became a victim when a saltwater crocodile grabbed her while she was bathing in an abandoned tin-ore mining pond. I Made Oka Astawa, head of the search and rescue agency in Pangkalpinang, reported that “The victim was snatched by a crocodile”. Her body was recovered the next morning after an extensive search involving local rescuers, army, and police personnel.
In another fatal incident in West Kalimantan province, a 44-year-old woman was attacked while working on a palm oil plantation. Despite her colleague’s attempts to save her, the crocodile pulled her into a ditch. Her body was found 90 minutes later, still in the crocodile’s grasp.
Experts trace the increase in human-crocodile confrontations to the rapid expansion of palm oil plantations and logging projects, particularly in Borneo’s rainforest areas. These developments, along with illegal tin mining operations, have severely reduced the natural boundaries between human settlements and crocodile habitats.
The Bangka island region, one of the world’s most abundant tin-mining areas, has become a hotspot for these dangerous encounters. Decades of tin exploitation have deforested the island, leaving behind thousands of abandoned mining pits that have turned into new crocodile habitats. As land deposits decrease, miners are increasingly moving to coastal areas, further displacing these predators from their traditional territories.
Environmental experts link the surge in attacks to several factors. The Indonesian archipelago hosts 14 species of crocodiles, with a substantial population of estuarine crocodiles that flourish in the local climate. Overfishing has depleted their natural food sources, while coastal development and widespread tin mining have destroyed their habitats, pushing them closer to human settlements.
Conservation authorities observe that the combination of habitat loss and local communities’ continued dependence on rivers for daily activities has created perilous conditions for human-crocodile encounters.