Woman, 88, killed in alligator attack after she ‘slipped into’ pond while gardening

The victim of an alligator attack in South Carolina has been identified as an 88-year-old woman who slipped into the pond where she was killed, police have said.

The woman, who was named Nancy Becker, was killed at about 11.15am in the Sun City gated community for adults, not far from Okatie, South Carolina, by an alligator.

Police said the elderly woman had been gardening by the pond and had slipped into the water where she was attacked and killed by the predator, ABC News reported.

An autopsy is now due to be carried out on her body and police said the alligator, which was a 9-ft, 8-inch male, has been euthanised.

Police were called to the scene in Sun City on Monday morning with reports of an alligator that seemed to be “guarding” a body near a pond.

That body was later retrieved from the water at 1pm, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said, with the alligator taking a couple hours longer to capture.

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office are part of the investigation into the attack, reports said.

There are an estimated 100,000 alligators in South Carolina, and although attacks on humans are rare, there have been at least two killings by alligators this year in the state.