A girl in her early 20s was dragged away by a crocodile from the banks of Dev River in Mahadevpura village near Waghodia in Vadodara district on Tuesday afternoon. The fire brigade immediately swung into a rescue search for the victim, identified as Kanta Vasava, but all in vain. The incident occurred when Kanta went to the banks of the Dev River to complete her daily chore of washing clothes. Eyewitnesses told the fire officials that they heard Kanta screaming for help and rushed to the spot in large groups. “People saw the crocodile dragging away Kanta into the waters even as she fought hard to release herself. They immediately called in the fire brigade and the forest officials,” said Rakesh Vadhwana, a crocodile expert, who accompanied the officials on the rescue boat to search for the victim. Despite several attempts by the fire brigade officials, Kanta remained untraced until sunset, after which the operation was aborted. Forest officials said that the number of crocodiles had increased in the Goraj area near Waghodia and in the river and they had already issued warnings to locals to stay away from river banks. According to Vadhwana, crocodiles that are 10-foot-big attack humans. “This is the sixth incident in the area, but has occurred after a long time. There are about four crocodiles in this water body, but they are very big in size. The forest officials have already set up a water tank with 12 taps near the fencing wall so that people do not venture near the river, but they just do not pay heed to the warnings.”
