MIRI (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - The Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department in Sarawak's Limbang town got more than it bargained for on Sunday (Dec 15), after a crocodile escaped from captivity in a kampung house.

The department received a call at around 12.30pm from a man in Kampung Imok near the Limbang town centre.

The man asked for help because his "pet" had escaped from his house, which was inundated with flood waters.

"The crocodile was reared inside a water tank. When it was flooded, the crocodile escaped into a nearby water-logged area outside the house," a spokesman for the department said.

"The owner called the department for help. He said the crocodile started to become aggressive."

A group of firemen deployed to the scene managed to captured the crocodile that measured about 1.2m in length.

The firemen took away the reptile from the scene, instead of giving it back to the owner.

It is to be handed over to the relevant wildlife authorities.

Kampung Imok is one of many villages in Limbang that is currently facing flood woes brought on by the landas season.

The landas in Sarawak is the equivalent of the monsoon in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia.