Crocodile kills South African woman on romantic dip

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) -- A crocodile seized and killed a young South African woman as she was taking a romantic midnight swim with her boyfriend, police said on Tuesday.

Some of the dismembered remains of 22-year-old Tracy Hunt were recovered by wildlife officers and police on Sunday in Lake St. Lucia, 36 hours after her boyfriend reported the attack, they said.

The pair were having a romantic dip shortly before midnight on Friday when Hunt screamed out in pain. Her boyfriend, Claudio Celestino, turned and saw her disappear beneath the water. He also reported seeing a crocodile.

Policespokesman Vish Naidoo said only Hunt's torso has so far been recovered.

The pair were swimming at the mouth of the lake where it meets the ocean, an area where sharks and crocodiles are often seen.

Lake St. Lucia's waters are infested with crocodiles and hippopotamuses -- which kill more people than any other wild mammal in Africa. The lake has several signs warning visitors about the dangers.

Early on Tuesday another woman was reported to have been snatched by a crocodile in a river in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province.

"We have not recovered the body of the woman who was taken this morning. We presume she is dead," Naidoo said, adding that witnesses had seen the unidentified woman attacked and dragged into the water by a crocodile.

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