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A search is underway for a 12-year-old-boy who's gone missing in the Australian Outback
in a suspected crocodile attack. The child is believed to have been surprised by the
saltwater croc and and taken while swimming in a billabong or water hole in Kakadu National
Park on Sunday. Another 12-year-old boy was bitten on the arm during the attack but managed
to fight off the crocodile and has undergone treatment for cuts. They were the uranium
mining town of Jabiru, which is in Northern Territory, just under 160 miles from Darwin.
Sergeant Stephen Constable from Northern Territory Police says so far they've found no sign of
the missing child.
In the early hours of the morning we located two crocodiles, one 4.3 metres, one 4.7 metres.
Both of those crocodiles were shot and removed from the area. We've since had a look at both
crocodiles and neither of them had anything in their stomachs and we're going to continue
the search today.
Police have drafted in two airboats to extend the search to the nearby flood plains. Sign
posts throughout the park warn visitors not to swim in waterways due to the danger of
crocodiles, which are widespread in the area. Their numbers have exploded since the species
was protected more than 40 years ago.