A schoolboy was killed by a crocodile while collecting his football from a river in Indonesia.

Arsenal fan Muhammad Syahputra Almanda, 13, was having a kick-about with friends in a field next to their village in Jambi, on Saturday afternoon.

They were playing on the riverbank when the ball rolled into the turbid waters. Eager Muhammad - wearing a blue Gunners top - splashed into the river to scoop up the object, but he was snatched by a huge 13ft crocodile in front of his horrified pals.

Gruesome footage shows residents screaming as the killer reptile held Muhammad's body upside down, with his legs visible above the surface.

Terrified villagers notified the local search and rescue team of the deadly croc attack.

Lutfi Mulyawan, spokesman for the Jambi disaster response office (Basarnas), said: 'Yes, the victim is Muhammad Syahputra Almanda, 13 years old. A team has been dispatched to the location.'

Officers arrived at the scene and found the predator still clutching Muhammad's corpse as it swam near stilt homes on the river before disappearing into the depths.

They scoured the river on boats and later found the boy's body lying face-down with chunks of flesh missing at 9:05 pm local time.

AKP Editasrif, spokesman for the East Tanjung Jabung Police, said: 'It all started when the victim and his friends were playing near the river. He asked his friend to throw the ball into the water, and after it was thrown, he jumped in but he didn't resurface. Soon after, witnesses saw him in the jaws of a crocodile.

'When the body was recovered, several parts were no longer intact.'

Muhammad's remains were returned to his parent's house for a funeral.

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.