A 40-year-old woman sitting on the bank of a river was killed by a crocodile in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district on Friday morning, an official said.
Victim Malti Bai had gone to bathe in the river at Kaniyaghat Patti village on the first day of the holy month of Sawan, said locals.
Area Sub-Divisional Magistrate R L Bagri said Malti was sitting near the river when a crocodile attacked her and pulled her into the water.
The villagers attempted to save her but could not succeed. Later, a rescue operation was launched by the forest department and the State Disaster Response Force, during which the crocodile released the woman from its jaws, he said.
The woman’s body was then recovered by an SDRF team from the river, about 40 km from the district headquarters, the official said.
The body would be handed over to Malti’s family after the post-mortem, he said.
The forest department has put up hoardings near the water body warning the villagers not to venture into the river as the crocodile population has risen dramatically, the official said.