Kampala  - A British man, distraught after learning that his wife had left him for another man in London, threw himself into a river over the weekend and was mauled by waiting crocodiles, police officials in Uganda confirmed Monday.

Stephen Morgan, 51, left a suicide note before jumping to death into the Murchison Falls of the river Nile, about 260 kilometres from the Ugandan capital Kampala, District Police Commander Alex Twebaze said by telephone Monday evening.

Twebaze said eyewitnesses reported seeing a man jump into the falls. Morgan left behind his mobile phone and a suicide note. He jumped at a location where there are many crocodiles, Twebaze noted.

The exact cause of the death could not readily be established. Several privately-owned radio stations reported that he died from the crocodile attack.

Hundreds of crocodiles live around the Nile in that area.

Beat FM, a Kampala FM radio station, reported that Morgan worked with a local tour company. (dpa)