An eight-year-old girl is feared drowned or attacked by a crocodile while bathing and washing clothes at the Sungai Kalabakan in Tawau yesterday.

District police chief Fadil Marsus said Nur Aliyah Ansar of SK Ulu Kalabakan went missing while following her aunt to carry out chores at the river.

“However, the aunt didn't notice when the child was missing," he said in a statement here today.

A search and rescue party involving more than 60 villagers, policemen and firemen resumed the search today.

Meanwhile, in Sandakan, the Wildlife Department has set up traps to catch a crocodile in the river at Kampung Melayu Batu 8 after a teenager was bitten by the reptile yesterday.

Department officer Hussein Muin said that the operation to catch the reptile was still ongoing, adding that a notice board was also put up to remind residents not to carry out any activity in the river.

In the 12.30 pm incident yesterday, Arsil Aikmal, 13, was bitten by the reptile when he was bathing in the river near his aunt's house.

The boy, however, managed to escape the crocodile’s jaws with the help of his cousins and friends who quickly dragged him out of the river.

He is currently recovering at the Duchess of Kent Hospital here after receiving 15 stitches on his chest, four on his back, five on the thigh and had two lacerations on the right knee.

Hussein said while the community was aware of crocodiles in the area, this was the first time a resident was actually attacked, adding that there was previously a case of a dog being devoured by a crocodile near the village.

- Bernama