A teenage boy in Zimbabwe narrowly escaped death after fighting off a crocodile that attacked him while he was swimming with his friends at Gwayi River, a report said on Friday.
Mpumelelo Tshuma, 15, together with six other boys was swimming along the Gwayi River, south east of the country, when the crocodile grabbed his leg state-owned Chronicle newspaper reported.
Narrating his ordeal from a hospital bed, the teen said he aggressively fought the gigantic reptile as it tried to pull him back into the water.
He said he was thrown a lifeline by his 17-year-old brother Arnold, who threw him a log which he held onto as his brother and friends threw stones at the crocodile.
Crocodile attacks are reported more frequently in south-eastern Zimbabwe, as well as in Lake Kariba and the Zambezi River in the north of the country.
In a shocking attack in October last year, a crocodile tore a five-year-old away from her mother in a terrifying attack in Harare’s dormitory town of Chitungwiza.
Ruvarashe Matingwina was holding onto her mother’s hand as they crossed the Nyatsime River on their way home when the crocodile grabbed the child’s leg.
