{"id":5411,"date":"2026-05-05T13:52:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=5411"},"modified":"2026-05-05T13:52:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:52:21","slug":"body-parts-found-inside-crocodile-thought-to-belong-to-hotel-owner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=5411","title":{"rendered":"Body parts found inside crocodile thought to belong to hotel owner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><h2>Terrifying details have emerged<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose drop-cap \">\n<p>A hotel owner from South Africa who was reported missing is believed to have been eaten by a crocodile, after human remains were found inside its body.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Gabriel Batista disappeared around a week ago after his car became stranded as he attempted to traverse the Komati River in the north-eastern region of South Africa.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>During the crossing attempt, Batista, 59, is reported to have been carried away by surging floodwaters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:0\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>According to officials, it is not certain whether Batista drowned before the crocodile attack or if the crocodile consumed him while he was still alive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Officers deployed drones and helicopters over the crocodile-infested waterway for four consecutive days, after Batista vanished.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><h2>DNA analysis to confirm the identity<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>However, to establish the victim&#8217;s identity definitively, DNA analysis will be conducted on the recovered remains, it was reported.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Search teams noticed the crocodile with an unusually bloated belly resting on a small island in the river, as they were doing aerial surveillance of the area.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:1\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>\u201cBesides having a massively full tummy, he didn&#8217;t move around or try to slip into the river despite the noise of the drones and the chopper\u201d, Captain Johan &#8220;Pottie&#8221; Potgieter, who leads a police dive unit, told News24.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:2\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>The crocodile was then shot by a police marksman positioned in a helicopter, and then it was airlifted to the nearby Kruger National Park for examination.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>The grim evidence within the crocodile\u2019s stomach was uncovered by veterinary specialists who performed a field necropsy on the half-tonne reptile.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><h2>Disturbing details of what was found inside the crocodile<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:3\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Two severed arms, portions of rib cage, and fragments of flesh from inside the reptile were retrieved by investigators.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>A ring that is thought to have belonged to Batista was also discovered among the remains, it was reported.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>To make things even more disturbing, within the crocodile\u2019s digestive system they found six different types of footwear.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>This could potentially indicate the reptile had attacked other victims previously, Captain Potgieter suggested, although he cautioned against drawing firm conclusions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>He noted that \u201ca crocodile will eat or swallow anything\u201d, while explaining that the shoes might not necessarily mean that it killed other humans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:4\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><h2>The victim of the crocodile attack<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Batista was the owner of the Border Country Inn and sports bar, which located a short distance from the bridge where he went missing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>He was described as \u201ca lovely guy and a family man\u201d by a spokesman for the establishment, and as a person who was popular with customers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>He was living in Johannesburg, South Africa\u2019s capital, but often visited his business and was travelling to work when he was swept away by the floodwaters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>As among the most dangerous reptiles in the planet, crocodiles of the Nile kill several hundred people in a year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><\/div>\n<p>#Body #parts #crocodile #thought #belong #hotel #owner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Terrifying details have emerged A hotel owner from South Africa who was reported missing is believed to have been eaten by a crocodile, after human remains were found inside its body. Gabriel Batista disappeared around a week ago after his car became stranded as he attempted to traverse the Komati River in the north-eastern region [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5578,2028,5576,2160,4051,796,1562,5577,4876],"class_list":{"0":"post-5411","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"tag-belong","9":"tag-body","10":"tag-crocodile","11":"tag-hotel","12":"tag-owner","13":"tag-parts","14":"tag-sensitive","15":"tag-south-africa","16":"tag-thought"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}