Boy, 10, killed by crocodile while swimming with friends in Indonesia

A boy was mauled to death by a crocodile while swimming with his friends in Indonesia.

Affan, 10, and his pals were cooling off in the Inggoi River in North Maluku when the beast sank its fangs into his torso on Tuesday afternoon.

The youngster screamed for help as he was thrashed around in the water before being dragged into the murky depths.

His two friends frantically waded out of the river and raced back to the village to alert authorities, but Affan was already dead by the time help arrived.

Horrifying footage shows the boy floating lifeless as the river leviathan gripped him in its jaws before gliding deeper under the surface.

Hendra Gunawan, South Halmahera Police Chief, said the area was a known crocodile habitat. He said: 'Crocodiles still often appear there. The locals say they're swamp crocodiles.'

A joint search team of police, soldiers, and rescue volunteers set out to scour the waters, taking extra care amid fears of crocodile attacks.

Search efforts continued until early morning on Thursday, December 18, when the crocodile resurfaced near a pier in the middle of the village.

Residents gathered to watch as rescuers drove the reptile from the area, leaving Affan's corpse just a few feet away.

His body was hauled onto a boat and later returned to his family.

Iwan Ramdani, head of the Ternate search and rescue office, said: 'The search was carried out using Basarnas rubber boats and community longboats as well as fishing boats, combing the coast along the Inggoi River to the sea surface.

'With the victim's death and his body handed over to his family, the search and rescue operation is complete and closed. All involved elements have been returned to their respective units.'

The Indonesian archipelago is home to 14 types of crocs, with a large population of extremely large and violent estuarine crocodiles that flourish in the region's climate.

Conservationists believe that crocodiles have been driven further inland, closer to villages due to overfishing reducing the crocodiles' natural food supplies, combined with habitat loss from the development of coastal areas into farms.

Widespread tin mining has also caused villagers to encroach on the crocodiles' natural habitats, pushing the creatures closer toward people's homes.

With locals in the developing country still using rivers for bathing and primitive fishing, the deadly combination of factors has led to rising numbers of crocodile attacks.