Africa-Press – Mozambique. A fisherman died after being dragged in the Zambezi River in Sofala, central Mozambique, by a crocodile, the Chemba district administrator told Lusa on Wednesday.
The 59-year-old man was “dragged to the bottom of the Zambezi River by a crocodile” while “retrieving his fishing net” on Monday in Chemba, explained Paulo Quembo, the local administrator.
According to Quembo, the district has recorded at least five deaths from crocodile attacks this year and one serious injury from a hippopotamus attack.
Paulo Quembo pointed to the lack of drinking water sources in the main town, fishing, travelling to local islands to tend to agricultural fields and bathing on the banks as some of the situations that lead to attacks in the rivers.
“The situation could get worse now that we’re entering summer, a time when many people go to the rivers to bathe,” he said.
Incidents involving wild animals are common in rural areas in Mozambique and riverbanks carry an increased risk.
The crocodile is one of the animals that causes the most fatalities every year in Mozambique, having been responsible for 76 deaths in 2020, according to data from the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC) on recorded incidents – many of which go unreported.
According to the organisation, crocodiles killed the most people in February, January and December, the months of the rainy season, which in Mozambique runs from October to March.
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