Aaron Bunch Journalist with Australian Associated Press | Collection of published work | + 61 484 008 119 | abunch@aap.com.au

Aaron Bunch
Crocs too small to take missing man-police

Police searching for a missing Victorian man, whose ute became bogged in Queensland’s Daintree rainforest, say it’s unlikely he’s been taken by a crocodile.

December 24, 2019

Rescuers searching for a missing Victorian man, who bogged his ute in North Queensland’s Daintree rainforest, say it’s unlikely he’s fallen prey to the small crocodiles inhabiting the area.

Milan Lemic, 25, was last seen near the Upper Daintree Village about 4.30pm on Sunday after driving his ute into Bairds Crossing, police say.

A witness offered to get a tractor to help free the vehicle.

But when he returned 20 minutes later Mr Lemic was gone, leading to fears he may have been taken by a crocodile. 

However, that was all but ruled out following an overnight search of the Daintree River, which found the reptiles in the area were too small to have taken the missing man.

“(Officers) located two or three rather small crocs in that area, which would not cause much of an injury to a person,” search co-ordinator Senior Sergeant Ed Lukin told reporters.

“Searches today would indicate there’s nothing of any size that has been involved in an attack on a human in the area.”

Rescuers are hopeful Mr Lemic, who Senior Sergeant Lukin described as a loner unlikely to seek help, will be found alive.

However, he said police are concerned about his state of mind given he drove his two-wheel-drive ute into a river crossing only passable by four-wheel drives.

“It continues to be a bit of a mystery. He does have an undiagnosed medical condition, which may have led to him making poor choices,” he said.

Senior Sergeant Lukin also didn’t rule out the possibility that Mr Lemic could be deliberately avoiding rescuers.

“We really don’t know at this stage what his intentions are,” he said.

The rough, mountainous terrain coupled with the risk of crocodile attack along the riverbank has hampered the search effort, Senior Sergeant Lukin said.

“It’s a mixture of farmland, rural area, there are lots of sheds that he could be hiding out in … (or he could have) walked into the rainforest, or he could be traversing up the Daintree River,” he said.

“We are (also) again going to search farms, sheds; we’ve got extra police up there on quad bikes to access (previously) inaccessible areas.”

“We’re quite confident we’ll find this young man,” he added.

Mr Lemic was last seen wearing a brightly coloured singlet, black gym shirt with white writing on it, black tracksuit pants, no shoes and no hat.

He is 191cm tall with black hair.

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