A wild crocodile was spotted swimming through floods outside homes in Indonesia.

Frantic locals saw the beast wading through the murky, leg-deep water in a housing alley in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on the evening of February 12.

This prompted men to catch the deadly creature using a rope and a piece of lumber.

Footage shows dozens of residents running after the escaping predator while hitting it with long pieces of wood.

The animal can be seen appearing to fight back, causing the brave lads pursuing it to run away.

The locals' attempt became hopeless, leading them to call the fire department for assistance in capturing the crocodile.

Idham Halid, Head of Rescue Operations Section of the Makassar City Fire Department, said: 'We eventually caught the crocodile, and no one was hurt in the encounter.'

An elderly woman was also killed by another reptilian beast while collecting shrimp from her traps on February 3.

On February 5, Alvina Doki, 64, a mother, was tragically killed by a crocodile that also attacked her son.

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.