SORONG / INDONESIA — Criminal charges may be filed after a mob slaughtered 292 crocodiles as an act of revenge at a sanctuary.

The bloodshed took place after a villager was accidentally killed by one of the crocodiles.

Last week, in the eastern Indonesian province of West Papua, a local resident Sugito was reportedly picking grass to feed his cattle in a local crocodile farm's breeding sanctuary.

A local employee said he heard screams, then soon found a crocodile attacking Sugito. By the time help arrived, not much could be done for the unfortunate villager.

Hundreds of enraged people attended the burial, and then marched to the sanctuary.

The Washington Post reports that after storming the office, the mob went after the animals themselves. Armed with knives, machetes, hammers, and clubs, they dragged the beasts out of the water and tied their mouths before butchering them.

Forty police officers were sent to stop the bloodshed, but they were helpless next to the 600 villagers.

The endangered species bred in the sanctuary are protected, and officials from Indonesia's Natural Resources Conservation Agency said they may pursue criminal charges against those involved.