A boy was devoured by a crocodile while washing his feet in a stream in Indonesia.

Hamsah, 7, was rinsing his feet after playing with friends when he was attacked by the sinister reptile lurking in the river near their home in Riau province on December 5.

The croc leapt out and snatched him by the head as he was bending over to scoop up some water.

Hamsah screamed as the beast's jaws clamped down on his skull. His grandmother rushed outside and found him being dragged into the murky stream.

She called her neighbours for help and the villagers set out to search for the missing boy. They collected his mangled body at 9 pm local time. The crocodile had torn off his head and all of his limbs, leaving only his torso intact.

Indragiri Hilir Police Chief AKBP Budi Setiawan said: 'When residents were searching on the boat, the crocodile bumped into them. They then found the boy's remains nearby.

'We urge the public to be careful when doing activities in rivers. Personnel are also conducting a campaign for the public not to take the law into their own hands, because crocodiles are protected animals.'

The police chief added that authorities were still searching for the rest of Hamsah's body.

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.