BINTULU: After three days of scouring the Annau Tatau River for a 38-year-old reported missing on a fishing trip, the search and rescue (SAR) operation today found his mutilated body some 8km from the Fire and Rescue Department SAR control post.
Only the head and torso of the victim, identified as Nicholas Daniel of Rumah Daniel in Nanga Annau, Tatau, was recovered, the Fire Department reported.
All his hands and legs were missing, indicating he was a victim of a crocodile attack.
The SAR team initially believed he was a drowning victim.
Nicholas was reported to have gone to lay his fishing traps at around 5pm last Wednesday and when he did not return the next day, wary relatives reported him missing to the police.
The police then requested the Fire Department to conduct the search.
In the initial search carried out by his family and the longhouse residents, they found his boat a kilometre away but there were no signs of him anywhere.