Scientists believe that a mutant catfish has begun killing people after feeding on human corpses dumped in the river on the India-Nepal border.

The giant catfish, known as a goonch, is thought to have developed a taste for human flesh in the Great Kali river where partially-burnt bodies after disposed of after funerals.

The Sun reports that locals believe the fish has moved on from scavenging food from corpses to snatching unwary bathers swimming in the river.

According to the newspaper, an 18-year-old Nepali disappeared in the river in 2007, dragged beneath the water by a creature described as like an “elongated pig”.

Biologist Jeremy Wade is investigating the creature for a TV documentary. According to The Sun, he discounted a theory that crocodiles were responsible for the disappearance of swimmers before turning his attention to goonches, a species that ranks as one of the world’s biggest freshwater fish.

Wade has already caught one goonch that tipped the scales at a record-breaking weight of 73kg and measured six feet in length.

Goonch attacks in the area are thought to date back ten years, reports The Sun. In 1998, a 17-year-old Nepalese boy suddenly disappeared while cooling himself in the river in 1998. Three months later another young boy was dragged underwater as his father watched helplessly.

Wade’s documentary, Flesh Eating River Monster, will be shown on Channel 5 on October 21 at 8pm.

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