Global Courant 2023-05-16 23:54:59
A toddler has died after a boat carrying more than 30 villagers across the Shire River in Malawi’s Nsanje district was attacked by a hippo, causing it to capsize, authorities said.
A police spokesman, Agnes Zalakoma, said the incident happened early Monday and 23 of the boat’s 37 passengers were missing and feared dead in the water, teeming with crocodiles and hippos.
“Well-wishers managed to save 13 people, while 23 others went missing and the toddler’s dead body has been found,” Zalakoma said in a statement Monday, adding that the deceased child was just one year old.
Rescuers continue to search for the missing persons, Zalakoma’s statement said.
Zalakoma told CNN on Tuesday that crossing the river is dangerous and accidents often happen.
“It is too dangerous because it (the river) is too shallow and in this river there are crocodiles that usually attack people and also hippos that cause incidents like the one we are dealing with,” Zalakoma said.
According to Nsanje district legislator Gladys Ganda, the villagers were crossing the Shire River to get to their farms on the Malawian border with Mozambique when their boat was hit by a hippo.
Hippos are one of the world’s most dangerous animals and, according to National Geographic, they can break a canoe in half with their strong jaws.
They occur naturally in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, especially in eastern and southern Africa.
Hippopotamus attacks are also common in sub-Saharan Africa. In December, a two-year-old Ugandan boy was attacked by a hippo that swallowed half his body before spitting it out, Ugandan police said.
