A grandfather was brutally torn apart by a ravenous crocodile while fishing in a river in Indonesia.

Syukriadi, 55, was spearing fish with his friends in the Batang Rosak River in West Sumatra, on April 26.

He waded into the water to retrieve his harpoon when a large crocodile, hidden in the murky depths, surged forward and latched onto his arm.

Terrified Syukriadi screamed as his companions tried to wrest him from the beast's jaws in a frantic tug-of-war. However, their grip slipped, and the fisherman was dragged away into the river.

Local rescuers launched a search after receiving a report in the evening. They were divided into two teams - one to scour along the riverbanks and another to venture into deeper waters.

Despite the combined efforts of police, volunteers, soldiers, and disaster response personnel, they failed to find any sign of the missing Syukriadi.

The search continued until May 2, when officers fished out what they described as human remains from the river.

In a statement, Abdul Malik, head of the Padang search and rescue office, said: 'After six days of searching, we finally managed to find the victim's body parts near the scene of the incident.

'Based on the findings and confirmation from the victim's family that the body parts indeed matched his characteristics, we have concluded the operation.'

Syukriadi's body was returned to his family for a funeral.

Local authorities warned residents to be careful around the river, especially at night, as crocodiles were known to lurk in the area.

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 the creatures 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.