Northern Territory police have found the remains of a 20-year-old man taken by a crocodile while swimming at night in the Daly River about 150km south of Darwin.

The local man disappeared while swimming with his brother across the crocodile-infested river at about 2am (AEST) on Friday.

The man's wife was watching from the riverbank and later told police she saw a crocodile nearby.

Superintendent Dean Moloney said the three had been drinking and the two men decided they would try to swim across the river.

Supt Moloney said "very large crocodiles" were known to frequent the river.

He warned people to be extremely cautious when swimming or camping in the area.

"I'd be taking extreme care if I was going to do that," Supt Moloney said.

"I think there was some complacency involved in this incident."

Supt Moloney said the two men would have known there were crocs in the water.

"They are locals from this community," he said.

"There is no doubt they would have known there are crocodiles there."

Police and wildlife rangers searched on land and in the water for the man's body on Friday and again on Saturday morning, calling off searchers at 9.30am (AEST) after the remains of the man were found 900 metres upstream from where he was attacked.

Police have destroyed a 4.3 metre crocodile believed to be responsible for the attack.

Names and details of the dead man would not be released to the public out of respect for the family, Supt Moloney said.

While the river was again open to the public, police have warned people to exercise caution while swimming in the river's top end.

This was the fourth fatal crocodile attack in Australia in recent months.

Submitted on 04/10/2009

Submitted by: Anonymous
Reference:

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Candi said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
"Oh, there's a bunch of man-eating giant reptiles in this water. I'll just swim across like it's the community pool." NOT! Thanks!

Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
That kind of arrogance is certainly deserving as far as I'm concerned. When I visited up around Daintree there were warning signs everywhere of salt water crocs that told you to be careful even close to the water, much less in the water. Thanks!

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