Crocodile makes off with boy in Costa Rica

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, May 5 (Reuters) A crocodile attacked and made off with a 13-year-old boy in Costa Rica on Friday as he bathed with his brother in a lagoon.

Breydi Escorcia was bathing in San Francisco de Tortuguero, on Costa Rica's Atlantic coast, when a crocodile attacked him and dragged him into deeper water, police said yesterday.

Witnesses said the boy screamed that the crocodile had bitten his leg before the reptile dragged him underwater.

The teenager emerged once more, just long enough to yell goodbye to his older brother, police official Victor Cervantes told Reuters, citing witnesses.

''He shouted, 'Adios, Pablito,'' before he was dragged under a second time and he hasn't been seen since,'' Cervantes said.

Officials searched for the adolescent, presumed dead, but had to stop late in the afternoon because of a high tide that brought choppy water.

Attacks by crocodiles, which typically hunt by waiting motionless for their prey to come close, are not uncommon in Central America and Mexico.

On Tuesday, a crocodile in the Mexican state of Jalisco attacked a 5-year-old boy as he swam in a river with his family. The child's body was found yesterday, tangled in weeds underwater close to where he was attacked.

REUTERS DS KN0912