Komodo dragon mauls boy to death on Indonesia's Komodo island

Jun 4, 2007, 4:19 GMT

Jakarta - A rare Komodo dragon has mauled a boy to death on an eastern Indonesian island that is part of the Komodo national park, a local media report said Monday.

The 9-year-old Mansur was having a toilet stop in a bush area on Komodo island on Saturday when he was attacked by the Komodo dragon, Jakarta's leading Kompas daily reported.

'The Komodo attacked him, bit him and tossed him around. Villagers threw stones at the giant lizard in their attempt to take the victim's body from the animal,' Vincensius Latif, head of the Komodo National Park, was quoted as saying.

Latif said Mansur suffered serious wounds on his stomach and around his genitals, adding that the victim dead shortly after the attack.

Because the island, one of the largest in the Komodo national park, has no medical clinic, the boy's body was brought to a public health centre outside the island by a speedboat, the report said.

The park and the western and northern coastlines of neighbouring Flores island in the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara, about 1,600 kilometres east of Jakarta, are the natural habitats of the giant Komodo dragon, which is the world's largest monitor lizard.

There are an estimated of 1,300 Komodo dragons on Komodo island alone, while around 3,000 remain in the park and surrounding areas. Komodo dragons are a protected species. They are known to be vicious and aggressive, but fatal attacks on humans are rare.