Costa Rican Soccer Player Eaten By Crocodile After Jumping Off Bridge

iStockphoto / Jean-Baptiste Toussaint

A Costa Rican soccer player named Jesus ‘Chucho’ Lopez Ortiz was eaten by a crocodile after jumping from a bridge into croc-infested waters.

The incident occurred in the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica in the Northwest corner of the country on the border with Nicaragua.

Saltwater crocodiles are found throughout Costa Rica. Locals and tourists alike are made very aware of the threat posted by crocodiles.

In this incident, the bridge which Jesus ‘Chucho’ Lopez Ortiz jumped off into the Cañas River was closed for fishing because there were so many crocs in the water.

The reason this particular incident went viral is quite ghastly. A video went viral on Twitter showing the crocodile swimming away with the soccer player’s lifeless body in its mouth. And police fired their guns at the crocodile in an attempt to subdue/kill the animal so the body could be retrieved.

There’s not enough money in the world to pay me to post that video here, but if you are desperate to see it then it can easily be found on Twitter if you search ‘Jesús Alberto ‘Chucho’ López Ortiz’.

Jesus ‘Chucho’ Lopez Ortiz was a member of the Deportivo Río Cañas soccer club, according to the New York Post. The club released a statement about their player being eaten by a crocodile.

On Facebook, they wrote “With deep sorrow, we make public the death of our player Jesus Lopez Ortiz (Chucho) may God enjoy. Rest in Peace Chucho, we join the pain of all your family.”

The crocodile was eventually killed by police and the eaten body was retrieved. A funeral was held with thousands in attendance, according to the Post.

With powerful Summer rainstorms every single day in the Costa Rican rainforest, rivers often run brown from muddy water. I took this video a few year ago in Costa Rica, it shows how adept these crocodiles are at disappearing in the muddy water:

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, crocodiles are responsible for approximately 1,000 attacks on humans each year. Of those attacks, an estimated 200 are fatal each year.