Thailand tourists have been banned from swimming off the island of Phuket, Thailand after a crocodile was seen in the waters.
Authorities are now trying to catch the elusive creature with hunters joining the search team.
The giant lizard was first seen at popular tourist spot Rawai Beach just over a week ago.
It has been sighted multiple times since and was most recently spotted on Monday this week.
Thawee Thongcha, the mayor of Karon town on Phuket’s west coast, told Agence France-Presse: “We almost caught it when it was seen near the beach in Karon, [we were] metres away but it moved quickly back to the sea.
“We do not yet know where it comes from.”
Authorities have said that the five crocodile farms on Phuket have been checked but none of them are missing a reptile.
It is believed the crocodile could have been released from an unregistered source -something they will only know when it is caught.
Capture of the crocodile has been hampered by monsoon season, as fisherman cannot use the nets on their fishing boats to capture it due to rough seas.
Governor Norraphat Plodthong told the local newspaper Thaiger that the creature is likely about 1.5m long (4.9ft) and is not as fierce or dangerous as others.
Swimming will remain banned until it has been caught.
Open sea is not normally where crocodiles live, leading experts to believe the reptile could be a hybrid saltwater version of the species bred on a farm, Thon Thamrongnawasawat, a marine biologist and lecturer at Kasetsart University told the South China Morning Post.
The Siamese crocodile is listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) red list.
It’s native to Indonesia, Brunei, East Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
According to the IUCN, crocodile numbers in Thailand and Southeast Asia have been decimated by habitat loss, commercial hunting for the skin trade and the capture of live reptiles to stock crocodile farms.
Earlier this month Phuket suffered a serious blow to its tourism industry as thousands of Chinese tourists cancelled hotel room bookings following a tragic boat accident.
The boat, called the Phoenix, capsized off the coast of Phuket killing 47 Chinese tourists on 5 July.
Last week, 7,300 hotel room bookings for July and August had been cancelled by Chinese tourists – and it’s believed this number is set to rise.
Kongsak Kupongsakorn, president of the Southern Hoteliers’ Association, said 19 member hotels had already reported their cancellations while another 160 hotels have yet to file their reports, according to Straits Times, a Singaporean newspaper.
Chinese tourists make up huge swathes of the tourist numbers to Phuket, with three million visiting the island each year.
