Crocodile kills worshipper

A 25 year old worshipper was killed and eaten by a crocodile in Bangladesh last week. The death took place in a pond next to a shrine and the man was seeking the crocodiles blessing when he was killed.

The man had travelled 50 km to visit the shrine with his mother. The shrine is an important religious place for Muslims in the area. The Khan Jahan Ali shrine is a place where visitors offers hens and goats to the five crocodiles that lives in the pond. Many worshippers bath in the pond as a part of the ritual and the crocodiles seldom injure worshippers although accidents have happened in the past as well although they are rare. The man was making his way into the water to get blessed when the crocodile attacked him and dragged him into the deep parts of the pond.

Numerous other worshippers (around 25) jumped into the pond and tried to find the man. They were unsuccessful and the body of the man was found a few days later when it floated up the surface. Large parts of the body had been eaten.

The crocodiles are apparently normally very friendly.

It should be mentioned that the sacrificing of hens and goats to crocodile is not a part of mainstream Islamic fait and only a small percentage of Muslims do this.