Human chain pulls man from jaws of crocodile

Human chain pulls man from jaws of crocodile

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By Staff Reporter

A HUMAN chain of villagers pulled a hunter from the jaws of a man-eating crocodile in northeastern Zimbabwe, reports said Monday.

Letikuku Sidumbu, 32, was attacked by the crocodile while trying to cross the swollen Mubvinzi river in the Goromonzi district, about 25 miles east of Harare, during an early morning hunting expedition with his uncle.

As the crocodile clenched it jaws on his right arm, a human chain of villagers tugged him from its grip in a struggle that also left him with a broken leg and chest and stomach injuries, Sidumbu told the Herald newspaper from his hospital bed in Harare.

Crocodiles are the most dangerous animal to man in Zimbabwe. In recorded cases last year, they dragged away and ate 13 people --including children -- according to the Communal Areas Management Program, a conservation group.

"I called out to my uncle to hit the crocodile with an ax," Sidumbu remembers.

But, he said, commotion by the two men's hunting dogs enraged the crocodile. He heard the voices of fellow villagers arriving from nearby Chitana Mafengu to help.

Before rescuers dragged him free, "one thing was clear that they wanted to salvage at least a piece of my flesh for burial should the crocodile get the better of them," Sidumbu said.

The Communal Areas conservation group, in its annual report for 2005, said wild animals killed at least 27 people last year in cases reported across Zimbabwe, but scores of other attacks in remote areas would not have been recorded.

Elephants, hippopotamuses and buffaloes accounted for most other attacks.

The Herald did not say when the hunter was attacked.

Sidumbu said he knew the river was crocodile infested but "I had safely crossed it many times before, especially at dawn." - AP
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