A grandmother was killed by a crocodile while she was washing her clothes in a river in Indonesia.

Nurliana Al Maulu, 54, was cleaning her dirty sarong after working at a plantation when the reptile clamped down on her hand in North Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi, on Monday.

The grandmother screamed as she was pulled from the banks of the Lasolo River. Relatives rushed toward the woman, flailing desperately in the water, but the beast dragged her beneath the surface before they could reach her.

Amirullah, Nurliana's husband, said: 'When I looked down, my wife was gone. All I saw was a crocodile diving into the river.'

Villagers alerted local officials, who sent rescue crews to the scene at around 7:05 pm local time.

Amiruddin, head of the Kendari Search and Rescue (SAR) Agency, said: 'When we received the report, we immediately dispatched the Kendari Basarnas rescue team to the location to provide SAR assistance.'

A joint team of rescuers, police, disaster responders, and volunteers scoured the murky river overnight. They found Nurliana's body floating lifeless in the currents today at 7:32 am local time.

Heart-wrenching footage shows the devastated family sobbing as the rescue crew returned with her corpse on the boat.

Amiruddin said: 'With the discovery of the deceased victim, the SAR operation, which endangered the life of a person attacked by a crocodile in the Lasolo River in Wanggudu Village, Asera District, Konut Regency, has been declared complete and closed. All elements involved have been returned to their respective units.'

Residents said several points along the river are known crocodile habitats, but there were minimal warning signs or preventative measures from local authorities.

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.