Gwembe husband rescues wife from croc jaws
Monday, June 6, 2011

From The Zambia Daily Mail

A GWEMBE resident who recently wrestled with a crocodile to save his wife has called on Government to crop the reptiles which have been preying on humans and animals in the area.

Choice Hakalima of Hamatuba area told ZANIS yesterday that the fishing communities are living in fear of crocodile attacks and their lives and livelihoods are at risk.

He said the crocodile population has increased sharply and the starving reptiles are now hunting down human beings and livestock.

Narrating his encounter with the reptile, Mr Hakalima said barely a week passes without a crocodile attack or death on the lake shores.

Mr Hakalima said his wife, Maureen Ketani, 29, had gone to draw water in the shallow water near home when a crocodile pounced on her and dragged her into deeper waters.

He said he was home when he heard people wailing desperately as they watched the reptile drag his screaming wife into the water.

He soon learnt that his wife had been caught by a crocodile and in a split second, Mr Hakalima dived into the river in search of his wife.

Under the water, he saw a long dark figure with his wife’s leg between its teeth and swam in its direction.

Mr Hakalima grabbed the reptile from beneath its belly. He wrapped his hands around it to force it to more shallow waters, to weaken the reptile.

"This was a miracle. I don’t know where I got the strength from," he said.

Mr Hakalima said the reptile became wilder when he forced his hand into its mouth in an effort to force it to release his wife.

With his hand still in the mouth of the beast, the crocodile rolled and twisted, as it tried to chop off his hand and his wife’s leg.

Mr Hakalima ordered his wife to hit the crocodile with a stick which was floating near her. The crocodile then let the woman go and directed its fury on the rescuer.

It narrowly missed his leg as it only bruised his thigh, snatching a piece of his trousers and swam back into the deeper waters.

Mr Hakalima bled from the cuts he sustained in the process of rescuing his wife but he picked her up and rushed her to hospital.

A check by ZANIS found Ketani, a mother of five, still nursing a deep wound on her right thigh and several other cuts on her hands and legs at Gwembe District Hospital. - ZANIS.