BALIKPAPAN • A human leg and arm have been found inside the belly of a huge crocodile suspected of mauling a man to death in Borneo, Indonesian police have said.

The authorities shot and killed the 6m-long crocodile close to a riverbank where an oil palm plantation worker had gone missing two days earlier.

Only his motorbike and sandals were found at the site, they said yesterday.

The search ended on Thursday when 36-year-old Andi Aso Erang's lifeless body, which was missing two limbs, was discovered floating in a different part of the river in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo.

Police said they spotted a crocodile nearby and killed it.

"Inside the crocodile's stomach, we found the left arm and a leg that we believe belonged to the victim," local police chief Teddy Ristiawan said.

The victim's wife said he had left home to hunt for clams they could eat.

"I never expected he would end up in a terrible situation like this," said Ms Anisa who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name.

In 2016, a Russian tourist was killed by a crocodile in the Raja Ampat islands, a popular diving site in the east of the archipelago.

Human-animal conflicts are common in Indonesia, especially in areas where the clearing of rainforest to make way for oil palm plantations is destroying animals' habitats and bringing them into closer contact with humans.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE