Colombo: Paul McClean, a British journalist, has been killed by a crocodile while he was washing his hands in a lagoon in Sri Lanka. The 24-year-old Financial Times journalist told his friends that he was going to the bathroom near a beach at a surf spot called Elephant Rock, near Arugam Bay in Sri Lanka's southeast. Witnesses said they saw him "waving his hands in the air" before disappearing into the lagoon.
A Scottish tourist said: "There’s a lagoon right next to the toilet he went and was grabbed by a crocodile. People last saw his arms in the air in the water and then was grabbed under. I was there but didn’t see it happen though. They are searching for the body but didn't found anything yet ... They were 90 per cent sure it was a crocodile but a couple of the guys said there was quicksand in the lagoon.”
McClean grew up in Thames Ditton, Surrey. In 2015, he graduated from Oxford University with a first class honours degree in French. He began his career with the Financial Times in September 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile. During his time with the newspaper, he spent a few months in Brussels, where he wrote about Brexit and the EU. His latest article appeared just three days ago. A spokesman for the Foreign Office confirmed they are "assisting the family of a British man who has died in Sri Lanka."