A father is missing after being attacked by a crocodile in front of his son in Indonesia.

Redi Kardinata, 34, was bathing in the river with Niko Alven Dinata, 11, when the lad returned to the family home to fetch a bar of soap on Wednesday afternoon.

When he returned a couple of minuted later, the shocked boy said he saw a reptile thrashing in the shallows with his father struggling to escape.

The reptile disappeared into the depths with the man in its jaws. Neither have been since.

Rescue teams are today searching for the missing dad and the croc in the Muara Sakai Inderapura river running through the Pancung Sol district in Pesisir Selatan, West Sumatra province.

Footage shows them in a speedboat churning up the water to try and flush out the crocodile or make a corpse surface.

Defrisiswardi, Head of the Emergency and Logistics Division at the Pessel District Disaster Management Agency said: 'The victim was fishing in the river then began bathing in the water. He was with his child, Niko, who is 11-years-old.

'The victim ordered his son to bring him soap. When Niko returned to bring the soap, the boy saw his father being attacked by an aggressive crocodile.

'Residents immediately approached Niko who was screaming hysterically.

'However, the victim's body was no longer visible on the surface of the river. Only waves of water were visible, like traces of crocodile movements.

'Search efforts are still being carried out. The victim has not been found.

‘We are also searching for the crocodile, which we believe will still be in the area close to the attack.'

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.

Conservations 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.

With uneducated 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.