Factfile: crocodile attacks in Australia

A Scottish-born veteran of the Vietnam War is feared to have been taken by a monster crocodile in far north-eastern Australia.

Arthur Booker, 62, who was born in Banffshire, was on a fishing trip with his wife Doris in a river near Cooktown, known as 'Cape Crocodile', when he went missing yesterday morning.

The couple had just finished a two-day camping holiday at the Endeavour River Escape campsite, north of Cairns, which they paid $40 (£16) to stay in, and had packed up their belongings when Mr Booker went missing.

While Mrs Booker waited in the car, her husband returned to the water’s edge on foot - something experts warn never to do when crocodiles are nearby - to retrieve the crab pots they had left behind.

When he failed to return, Mrs Booker searched the riverbank and found a crab pot with its rope frayed and long crocodile skid and claw marks near the water. Mr Booker’s new video camera was also left on the bank.

A distraught Mrs Booker sounded the alarm, and a full-scale search party, including police, emergency service volunteers and Environmental Protection Agency staff, was immediately sent out.

By nightfall Mr Booker had still not been found, but his wristwatch and one of his sandals were discovered in the river.

Rangers and police resumed their search this morning, but believe Mr Booker may have been taken by a 6m (19.5ft) long salt-water crocodile, estimated to weigh a tonne and known in the area as Charlie. He is described as a “shy” reptile, despite his enormous size.

Charlie, who has been seen in the area recently, another large crocodile named Harriet, and a smaller, 8m crocodile called Blackie, who lays eggs further down the river, are the main suspects in what is still being regarded by police as a missing person case, but hopes are fading fast. The reptiles are known by locals as being very territorial.

If Mr Booker’s disappearance is confirmed as a crocodile attack, it would be the first fatal attack in Australia since 2006, when an eight-year-old girl was taken in the Blythe River, in the Northern Territory.

Between 1985 and 2007, there were 17 attacks by crocodiles in Australia, five of which were fatal.

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