An Australian fisherman was likely killed by a crocodile after tumbling down a riverbank into a creek, police said Tuesday after finding human remains in the gut of a 4.9-metre (16-foot) reptile caught nearby.

The 40-year-old man was fishing on a riverbank in tropical north Queensland when he "fell into the water and failed to resurface", police said in a statement.

They were told the man had "been taken by a crocodile".

The fisherman had been casting his line at a secluded spot known among locals as "crocodile bend", Australian media reported.

Rangers trapped and killed a large crocodile close to where the fisherman had plunged into the water.

Police said they believed they had found the man's remains inside the beast, and were now working on a formal identification.

A 12-year-old girl was killed by a crocodile in July while swimming near a remote settlement in Australia's Northern Territory.

Deadly crocodile attacks are rare but not unheard of in Australia's northern tropics.

Earlier this year, a saltwater crocodile was shot, cooked and eaten after menacing a Northern Territory community.