A crocodile that fled an abandoned wildlife park for a day at the seaside caused beachgoers to panic at a popular south China resort on Sunday, state media said.
The croc surfaced at Beihai city’s Silver beach in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, scaring off many swimmers, Xinhua news agency reported.
Lifeguards immediately dispersed swimmers and launched boats to prevent the crocodile from hurting tourists, but only captured it after three hours of struggle.
Investigators said the crocodile came from a private wildlife park that was closed awaiting auction. It is believed to have crawled down a pipeline to the sea when the park drained a pool.
A villager near the beach said a park worker had come to his village on Saturday, asking for help to catch an unknown number of crocs that had fled. — AFP