A missing farm worker attacked by a crocodile was found at the bottom of a river in Indonesia.

Jahrin, 50, and his wife Ramisah had finished working in the fields in Kotabaru Regency in South Kalimantan province on October 19. They were washing themselves in the Batulasung River when the crocodile reportedly chomped down on Jahrin's leg.

Ramisah grabbed her husband's hand trying to wrest him from the croc's jaws but the reptile overpowered her and dragged him into the river.

The frantic wife reported the attack to police, and a search was launched amid by the local search and rescue agency amid rainy conditions. However, rescue teams said the weather and murky waters hampered the mission.

Jahrin's body was finally lying at the bottom of the river on October

H Akhmad Rajudinoor, head of the Kotabaru Fire Department, said: 'The personnel in the field have confirmed they retrieved the body. There were no obstacles during the evacuation process. The body was handed over to the victim's family to be buried.'

A grieving Ramisah lamented: 'We were about to leave when the crocodile attacked. I tried to pull him out of the water but his hand was too slippery. If only I were strong enough, he could have survived.'

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.

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.