A schoolgirl is missing feared dead after a crocodile attacked while she was playing on a riverbank in Indonesia.

The youngster named Thina, 8, had accompanied her brother to go fishing near a pier on the Bangka Belitung islands, at around 11:30 am on February 2.

She was playing by herself on the muddy, rubbish-strewn ground when a 10ft crocodile emerged from the water and snatched her from the bank.

The beast was seen dragging the screaming youngster into the murky depths before her brother could rush to her aid.

Local rescue teams were dispatched to the scene after receiving a report about the missing girl in the afternoon. They deployed a drone for an aerial search, which found the crocodile surfacing while holding what appeared to be Thina's lifeless body in its jaws.

Sufani, head of the local search and rescue unit, said the crocodile re-emerged later in the evening with nothing in its mouth.

He said: 'On the second day of the search, there have been no signs of the victim or the crocodile that attacked her, unlike on the first day, when it was seen by many people with the girl in its mouth.

'We have also deployed rubber boats from various agencies. All maximum efforts are being made to find the victim.

'Although there have been no obstacles in the search, the team is still considering the possibility that the victim was carried away by the current after the crocodile let go of her. We are worried we would find her in a decomposed state after being eaten. The longer she is missing, the more likely her body is no longer intact.

The rescue officer added that the area was notorious for being the habitat of crocodiles.

He continued: 'When these crocodiles are hungry, they will look for something to eat. They will even consume plastic bags.'

Thina's devastated mother, Herni, asked for prayers from the community for her daughter's return.

Choking back tears she said: 'We ask for your prayers. We also ask for prayers from everyone from her school. We want her to return to our home.'

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 them closer toward people's homes.

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.