A 12-year-old girl who disappeared in remote northern Australia on Tuesday was killed by a crocodile, police believe.

Northern Territory (NT) police were searching crocodile-infested waters near Nganmarriyanga, a small Aboriginal community 220 miles south-west of Darwin, on Wednesday in the hope of finding the child’s body.

Brent Potter, the NT Police Minister, said officers had been authorised to “remove” a crocodile seen in Mango Creek as they entered the “recovery stage” of the search.

“It’s a tragic incident for any parent or family member to lose a young child, and especially in the circumstances like that taken by a crocodile,” Mr Potter told local media.

“I know the search and rescue team are currently out there with members from the Wadeye police station and they’ll continue to do that to find that croc.”

He added: “We live in a place where crocodiles occupy our water places. It is a tragic event.”

The child was reportedly last seen cooling off in the creek as the temperature climbed to over 30C on Tuesday.

Members of the public called police about 5.30pm and began searching the creek before official rescue teams arrived.

A popular swimming hole for the 450 residents of Nganmarriyanga, the creek is considered safe during the dry season from May to October.

In the wet season, however, crocodiles can swim into nearby watering holes from the Daly River which is home to both freshwater and saltwater species.

Incident follows calls for a crocodile cull

Crocodile numbers have climbed to about 100,000 in the NT since Australia banned culling in the territory in 1971. Before then, the population had dropped to about 5,000.

Although the number of crocodiles has risen, experts have stressed that fatal attacks have remained rare as a result of local management and a ban on swimming during times of heavy rain.

In the NT, fatalities peaked in 2014 when four people were killed. Since then, there have been two fatal attacks, both in 2018.

Calls for a government cull were reignited last July when a two-metre-long saltwater crocodile attacked a man while he was swimming along with a dozen others in a popular water hole.

Following the attack on the 67-year-old man in Litchfield National Park NT’s chief minister Natasha Fyles said that she would be “formally contacting the Commonwealth” to raise the prospect of culling crocodiles.

“I think it’s time for us to consider: Do we need to go back to culling considering the significant increase in the crocodile population, and the impact it’s [having], not just on our tourists and visitors, but also locals,” Ms Fyles said at the time.

More than 3,000 crocodiles have been relocated or killed after being considered a threat to people in NT waterways since 2012, according to government data.

Authorities announced in February they were working on a 10-year plan on how to manage crocodile populations.