GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- For weeks, three kayakers exploring a series of rivers through the heart of Africa came together in a close formation designed to ward off hippo and crocodile attacks whenever they paddled the quiet green glides between thundering stretches of whitewater.

The boaters — two Americans and a South African — traveled some 1,000 miles of river this way, through some of the densest concentrations of man-killing wildlife in the world. They were on a quiet stretch of the Lukuga River in Congo, paddling just 4 or 5 feet apart, when a crocodile slipped up from behind and ripped trip leader Hendri Coetzee from his red plastic boat.
With no time to do anything but say “Oh, my God!” Coetzee was gone, hauled beneath the green water never to be seen again.
The “crocodile just pulled him right underwater,” Chris Korbulic told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Tuesday from Reno, Nev., where he was visiting his brother. “I think we both were just in complete shock and disbelief, and absolutely horrified at what had just happened.”
Ben Stookesberry, 32, of Mount Shasta, Calif., and Korbulic, 24, of Rogue River, Ore., are world-class kayakers who have gone where no boat has gone before to navigate the melting snows of the Himalayas in Northern Pakistan and India, towering waterfalls in Brazil, and boulder-stewn creeks in Costa Rica, California and British Columbia.
With primary sponsorship from Eddie Bauer Inc.'s First Ascent line of outdoor gear, they had partnered with Coetzee, a top whitewater guide based in Uganda, to document the whitewater of the White Nile and Congo, and be the first to boat the whitewater of the Lukuga River. They also hoped to bring attention to the crisis of millions of people dying from poor water quality in a region overflowing with water.