A woman has been attacked and killed by a saltwater crocodile while fishing with her family in the Northern Territory.

A group of about seven women and children were fishing and collecting mussels in waist-deep water in a billabong when splashing was heard.

The group noticed the woman had disappeared, leaving the bucket she was using.

The woman’s body and the crocodile were found just before 5pm, less than one kilometre from the scene. The crocodile was destroyed by local Indigenous rangers.

The attack occurred at about 10am near Gan Gan in East Arnhem Land. The woman worked as an Aboriginal ranger in the local Laynhapuy Indigenous Protected Area.

Police from Lake Evella and Nhulunbuy, about three hours’ away, travelled to the scene by car and boat to help local rangers and the community to search waterways.

“Any death is traumatic, our thoughts are with family and relatives,” police commander Tony Fuller told reporters.

A report into the cirucmstances around the death will be prepared by police for the coroner and NT WorkSafe spokesman was also investigating, a spokesman said.