Man survives hippo attack

RUNDU, 08 OCT – A 31-year-old man is recovering in the Rundu State Hospital after he was attacked by a hippo on Friday.
Frans Kupembona, who is from Shamangorwa village in the Kavango East Region but residing in Angola, was admitted with serious injuries on his right leg. His condition has since stabilised.
The incident happened at around 09h00 at Makena village in the Mukwe constituency, some 124 kilometres east of Rundu.
Speaking to Nampa on Monday from his hospital bed, Kupembona said he was attacked by the hippo while crossing the river in a canoe.
He said while he was busy paddling from the Angolan side of the river to take a family member to a clinic in Namibia, the hippo snapped at the canoe, then bit him on his leg, near to his right knee.
“When we came across the hippo, it flipped the canoe and had me with its jaws. It only released me when I struck it with my hands in the face as I was struggling, but it had already injured me,” Kupembona narrated his ordeal.
He added that after the animal released him, he swam to the shore with difficulty. With the help of the flow of the water, he managed to get to the bank of the river and the Angolan police took him to the Nyangana Health Centre for medical treatment.
He was transferred to Rundu the same day.
(NAMPA)