An Indonesian fisherman has been killed by Komodo dragons after he was attacked while trespassing on a remote island in search of fruit, officials said Tuesday.
Muhamad Anwar, 32, bled to death on his way to hospital after being mauled by the reptiles at Loh Sriaya, in eastern Indonesia’s Komodo National Park, the park’s general manager Fransiskus Harum told CNN. “The fisherman was inside the park when he went looking for sugar-apples. The area was forbidden for people to enter as there are a lot of wild dragons,” Harum said. Other fisherman took Anwar to a clinic on nearby Flores Island, but he was declared dead on arrival, he added. Komodo dragons, the world’s heaviest lizards, can grow up to 3 meters (10 feet) in length and have a toxic bite that they use to kill prey such as buffalo, returning to feast when the animal succumbs to the poison.
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Attacks on humans are rare, but Monday’s incident is the latest in a series in which the massive lizards have targeted humans. Last month a park ranger survived after a komodo dragon climed the ladder into his hut and savaged his hand and foot. In 2007 an eight-year-old boy died after being mauled. In June last year, a group of divers who were stranded on an island in the national park — the dragons’ only natural habitat — had to fend off several attacks from the reptiles before they were rescued.
