MIRI, Feb 14 — An Indonesian oil palm worker is believed to have been killed by a crocodile while out searching for crabs at a river mouth in Ladang Segi Pakatan Niah here at 1pm yesterday.

Miri District Deputy Police chief Supt Mohd Sabri Zainol said the victim, Muh Tahir Majid Syam, 40, had gone out with his nephew Muhammad Arfian Putra Effendy, 24, to look for crabs, and they each searched at two separate locations.

"When the nephew went to look for the victim, he only found the victim’s belongings,” he said in a statement today.

He said the nephew then searched around the river and saw the victim’s head floating before finally sinking.

"The victim’s body was retrieved from the river at 6pm today. From the initial investigations, he is believed to have been killed by a crocodile as there were bite marks on his body,” he said, adding that the body had been sent to the Miri Hospital for autopsy. — Bernama