A schoolboy was killed by a crocodile while paddling in a river near his home while his horrified parents watched on.
Julio Otero Fernández, 8, had been visiting the Matina River in Limón, Costa Rica, when he was dragged in by the reptile.
The young boy, who had only been splashing around in the water below knee level, was then taken deeper into the river in front of his horrified family.
The boy's body has still not yet been found.
His distraught parents Don Julio Otero and Margini Fernández Flores are now planning on moving away to Nicaragua in a bid to protect their other four children – aged between 3 and 16.
They have also made a desperate plea to authorities to find the reptile and sacrifice it.
The third grader's dad said: "The hardest thing for my wife was seeing the crocodile float with my son's body."
Speaking to local media his devastated mum said: "It is impossible to continue living in Matina because in every corner of the house we find something that reminds us of Julito, that causes us a lot of pain.
"We can't be here, because we spend every time remembering how nice it was to have him here with us.
"It is very difficult for us, so we are going to have to get out of here.
"I am not going to stay here, because just as they protect those animals, they are capable of leaving the river to attack more people and the truth is that it is scary that something like this will happen again.
"My other children act strong, but one realises that they are sad.
"Whenever we remember what happened, it is impossible not to shed tears."
Authorities are still hunting for little Julio's body but say they have had difficulty in recent days due to heavy rain.
Tatiana Díaz, regional director of the Limón Red Cross said: “One hypothesis is that the animal took the child to the burrow or cave and there are burrows and caves but we don't know which one of them it is.
"We have tried to cover and visualize some, we have implemented a hook with a strip to see if it pulls something, but to no avail.
"Since we don't know which cave it is, or which crocodile because there are several, it's very difficult to focus on a single point.
"We know that there are crocodiles and burrows, but we don't have a notion or a pattern to work on."
