'Missile' Crocodile Grabs, Kills Well-Known Infectious Disease Expert

[The Straight Story]

'Missile' Crocodile Grabs, Kills Well-Known Infectious Disease Expert

POSTED: 7:19 am EST March 22, 2006
UPDATED: 8:03 am EST March 22, 2006

SEATTLE -- A University of Washington medical professor who moved to Botswana to alleviate a doctor shortage was killed when a crocodile pulled him from a canoe, his family and colleagues said.

Dr. Richard K. Root, 68, was on a wildlife tour Sunday of the Limpopo River after visiting a clinic in the area. He was in a lead canoe with tour guides when the crocodile thrust from the water, grabbed him and pulled him under, said Steve Gluckman, medical director of the Botswana program. He was not seen again.

"I guess in a flash a crocodile came out of the water like a missile and he was gone," victim's son David Root said.

The tour guides were wary of hippos, but there had been no reports of crocodile attacks in the area, Gluckman said.

http://www.local6.com/news/8181731/detail.html

[QuettaKid]

1. that's gotta sting a little. nt.

.

[CottonBear]

2. Apparently, more people are killed by hippos than crocs.

Good lord, what an awful way to go. :(

[global1]

3. Is The Croc Part Of The Conspiracy To Rid The World Of Infectious....

disease experts and microbiologists?

[The Straight Story]

4. I dunno, is the croc from a red state? (nt)