A 52-year-old fisherman has died after being attacked by a crocodile while trying to escape a herd of elephants in eastern Zambia, police have confirmed.
Dean Nyirenda had been returning from a fishing trip with two friends on Wednesday when they unexpectedly encountered the elephants. The group fled in different directions, with Nyirenda jumping into a nearby stream close to the Luangwa River.
“That is when he was attacked by a crocodile, which bit him on his right thigh,” local police chief Robertson Mweemba told journalists.
Police said Nyirenda managed to fight off the crocodile by hitting it with a stick he was carrying and was able to pull himself out of the water.
“He dragged himself from the stream,” Mweemba said.
His two companions, who had been watching from a distance, rushed to help and carried him away from the riverbank as he bled heavily, according to the state-run ZNBC news website.
“They tried to stop the bleeding but unfortunately he died,” the police chief added.
Wildlife officers later visited the scene and confirmed that deep bite wounds on Nyirenda’s right thigh caused the fatal loss of blood.
The Luangwa River, which runs through South Luangwa National Park, is known to have one of the highest concentrations of Nile crocodiles in Africa. Conservation groups say crocodile attacks are a major cause of wildlife-related deaths in the area.
According to Resource Africa, a community-led conservation organisation, 15 of the 26 wildlife-related deaths recorded in Zambia in 2023 were caused by crocodiles, most of them along the Luangwa River.
Zambia has a large elephant population, and clashes between people and wildlife have increased in recent years. Authorities have repeatedly urged residents and tourists to take extreme care in wildlife hotspots, while officials say measures such as protective fencing are being considered to reduce human-animal conflict.
