A hippo has swallowed a playing two-year-old boy whole - before spitting him back out alive.
Paul Iga was outside his home just feet away from Lake Edward, Uganda, when the creature attacked.
It seized the youngster in its jaws in the horrific incident and began to swallow him.
Chrispas Bagonza, who was horrified by the attack, spotted the boy and began throwing stones at the animal to try and get it to stop.
To his astonishment the hippo spat out the youngster before it swam off into the lake.
The two-year-old was taken for treatment to a clinic nearby before being move to a hospital in Bwera, where he received a rabies vaccination from medical staff as a precaution.
Ugandan Police said in a statement: "This is the first such kind of incident where a hippo strayed out of Lake Edward and attacked a young child.
“It took the bravery of one Chrispas Bagonza, who was nearby, to save the victim after he stoned the hippo and scared it, causing it to release the victim from its mouth.”
On an earlier occasion Vets risked life and limb as they wade into crocodile-infested waters to try out a new treatment on this lethal two-tonne hippo.
The animal thrashed about as the experts sedated and blindfolded it before pulling it to the riverbank to test a combination of drugs.
Vets in Zimbabwe are aiming to make sick hippos docile enough to treat but not so sleepy that they could drown, which has often happened in the past.
Dr Michael Kock, who led the risky procedure, said: “Hippos can be extremely dangerous.
"They are capable of chomping a person in half.”
In 2016 The Mirror reported how a hippopotamus had escaped from a circus and launched its bid for freedom.
It was seen wandering across a busy main road as frightened pedestrians back away.
The giant mammal mooches across the tarmac as cars zoom past.
Apparently unconcerned by the traffic, the creature stops to snack on a bit of grass from the embankment in the middle of the road.
After its brief meal, the hippo lumbers away - once again scattering anyone in its path.
The beast had escaped from a circus in Palos de la Frontera, near Huevla in the south-west of Spain.
But the hippo's quest for freedom was short lived and it was soon rounded up and taken back to the circus.
Hippopotamuses normally inhabit Sub-saharan Africa, can grow to 1.5 metres long and weigh an average of 1,500kg.
They are considered to be highly aggressive and kill a number of people each year in Africa.
Other creatures including snakes also have a track record of being dangerous and woman died in Indonesia after being swallowed by 22ft long python.
