A young girl was killed by a crocodile while she was washing in a lake in Indonesia.

Caca, 5, was wading into the water to join her parents for a bath when she was attacked by the beast in Bukit Layang Village in the Bangka Regency at around 9 am on January 11.

The helpless parents tried to run and save their daughter, but she was snatched off the banks and dragged screaming into the depths of the water-filled former mining pit near their home.

Local police, rescue volunteers, villagers, and the Bangka Belitung search and rescue agency rushed to the scene after receiving a report.

They spent several hours on a rubber boat combing the water to find signs of the missing girl. Residents also cast a net to catch the sinister predator, which was dragged ashore before the youngster's body was found.

I Made Oka Astawa, head of the Bangka Belitung Basarnas, said: 'As of 8:54 pm, the victim had not been found. However, a crocodile was caught in a resident's net. We suspect it may have been the same crocodile that attacked the victim.'

The locals cut open the crocodile but found no remains inside.

The frantic search ended early Sunday morning, January 12, when Caca's body floated to the surface not far from where she was attacked. Her skull had been crushed in the reptile's powerful jaws, officers said.

The rescue agency head added: 'The body was found at 5:20 am. The team immediately collected her corpse and took it to the funeral home. With the successful discovery of the victim, the SAR operation for Caca is hereby closed.'

Bukit Layang village chief Sergeant Turahman said: 'This tragedy is a lesson for the community to be more careful when carrying out activities in reservoirs, former ore mining areas and rivers.'

In December last year, a crocodile in Indonesia killed Nurhawati Zihura, 46, sparking calls from locals for increased government action to tackle the danger.

Kornelius Wau, the Head of Pulau-Pulau Batu district in South Nias regency, said: 'I have asked the North Sumatra Provincial Government through the North Sumatra Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) to take real action.

'Many of these wild animals are still roaming the coast of Tello Island. I am worried that if this problem is not addressed, it will become a serious threat to the residents there. Where the majority of residents' settlements are on the coast and their livelihoods are at sea.

'There are other wild crocodiles are still roaming the coast of Tello Island and its surroundings. More than 80 per cent of our residents make their living at sea and even most of our residents' settlements are on the coast. They often bathe in the sea, so this is a threat to us and until it is solved, will we live in a frightening situation.'

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.