Shocked beachgoers watched on in horror after akilled a beachgoer - and swam near the shore while clutching his body in its jaws.

The deadly had been following the 51-year-old man as he paddled in the sea off Talise Beach in Central Sulawesi, , on Thursday.

Witnesses said they called out to the man as the crocodile approached, but he could not hear them. The reptile then caught up to the swimmer, before clamping down on him and thrashing him around in a brutal . Bosses from the local rescue team said they received a report of the fatal attack at 7.15 am, and arrived on scene around 45 minutes later.

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Muh Rizal, head of the city search and rescue office, said: "At 8am, the rescue team arrived at the location and deployed a thermal drone to monitor the movements of the victim who was attacked by the crocodile." In gruesome aerial footage, which the has chosen not to show, the crocodile is seen holding Sadarwinata's body in its mouth as it swam along the coast.

Witnesses said the man, named Sadarwinata, had been swimming in a stretch of coast where a crocodile had already been sighted that day. Officers at the scene shot the crocodile to free the man's body from its clutches. Deny Abrahams, senior commissioner of the city police, said: "According to eyewitness statements, the victim was swimming too close to the crocodile that was already visible around the location. They shouted to warn him, but the victim was in the water and didn't hear.

"The rescue efforts were carried out swiftly by the joint team. One of the members of the Central Sulawesi Police Mobile Brigade Corps was even forced to shoot the crocodile to make it release the victim." Sadarwinata's was pulled to the shore and found to be covered in deep bite marks. It was later sent to the Bhyangkara Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

Police said conservationists had been stationed at the beach to prevent similar crocodile attacks, and warned visitors to be vigilant when swimming at the beach. The Indonesian archipelago is home to 14 types of crocodiles, 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 and closer to human settlements due to overfishing, which has reduced the crocodiles' natural food supplies. The species has also suffered habitat loss from the development of coastal areas into farms.

Widespread tin mining has additionally caused villagers to encroach on the crocodiles' natural habitats, pushing the creatures closer towards people's homes. Indonesia has the highest number of recorded saltwater crocodile attacks in the , and recent figures showed there were at least 1,000 incidents over the past decade.

The attacks resulted in more than 450 fatalities, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Many more incidents are believed to have gone unreported.