Businessman Gabriel Batista, 59, vanished down a fast-moving river after he attempted to cross a low-level bridge in a bid to reach a hotel on the other side
A brave police diver was winched down into a crocodile-infested river to retrieve a the body of a 15-ft long monster believed to have eaten a missing man.
Police captain Captain Johan “Pottie” Potgieter, from the Mpumalanga diving unit of the South African police service, was winched into the river in the country’s northeast.
It is feared that human remains found inside the croc could be that of missing hotel boss Gabriel Batista, 59. Concerns over Mr Batista began last Monday when he tried to drive over a flooded low level bridge in the town of Komatipoort, South Africa.
He attempted the crossing in a bid to get to his hotel on the other side as river levels rose around him. But as vicious currents pushed his 4×4 Ford ranger over the side and onto rocks, Mr Batista is believed to have climbed out of the vehicle in a bid to wade to safety.
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Officials believe he was swept off his feet and went down the Komati River toward the nearby border with Mozambique and the hungry crocodiles.
It is unclear whether Gabriel drowned before he was eaten by a crocodile. The animal was later shot dead and it is possible his remains are inside other crocodiles.
Gabriel was the well-liked owner of the the Border Country Inn and Sports Bar, just a short drive away from the regularly-flooded river. Police spent four days flying a drone over the massive croc they believe ate his remains before shooting it dead and airlifting it off an island packed full of the predators to check if they were correct.
Incredible images showed the moment the brave police commander, who attached a harness to the suspected maneater, being hauled hundreds of feet up into the air to retrieve the carcass.
When the half-tonne carnivore was lowered down to the ground in the nearby Kruger National Park, its belly was cut open to see if the huge beast had indeed eaten the businessman.
Police captain Joey Potgieter led to the macabre discovery of two severed arms with hands still attached, half a rib cage and chest flesh. A ring, believed to belong to Gabriel, was also said to have been found on one of the fingers and DNA checks on body samples that are now being carried out.
But none of the six shoes that were found inside the croc belonged to Gabriel. A spokesman for the Border Country Inn and Sports Bar said: “Gabriel was a lovely guy and a family man who was married with lots of kids and he spent a lot of time up here and customers loved him.
“He lived in Johannesburg but owned this guest house and bar and spent a lot of time here and was on his way to work on Monday when he was just swept away.
“The family do not want to say anything until the DNA results have been done. It is just terrible and his wife has been here every day with the police diving team. It is a nightmare but at the moment there is no family comment” she said.
The bravery of the police dive team commander Captain Johan “Pottie” Potgieter has been hailed after he volunteered to be airlifted in to retrieve the shot-dead croc. His team suspected that Mr Batista had been eaten and sent up a drone on Tuesday and monitored the activity of the resident crocodiles on the mudbank islands.
Capt Potgieter said: “My dive team have been recovering bodies from local rivers in this part of South Africa for a long time so we know the behaviour or crocodiles. From a drone we studied a number of crocodiles on an island 60 metres from the bridge and we identified one particular croc we were 100 per cent certain had eaten the man.
“This very large one was not moving in the sun and showed typical signs of recent feeding as it has a massively full tummy and stayed out of the nearby water. He made no effort to move despite the noise of the drones or our chopper overhead or any inclination to seek out food so we were sure it was this crocodile” he said.
